World News 28-10-2002 Scandal Of 118 Killed By Poison Gas who: City health committee chairman Andrei Seltsovsky what: Says 118 hostages were killed by poison gas where: MOSCOW when: Yesterday snippet: "The hostage death toll in Moscow`s theatre siege rose to at least 118 on Sunday night," says The Financial Times, "and was set to climb sharply, with doctors saying that all but two victims died from the mysterious gas used when special forces stormed the building on Saturday morning." 800 people had been held since wednesday night in the Melnikova Street theatre by about 50 Chechen rebels demanding the end of the Russian occupation of Chechnya, says The Telegraph. Since the storming of theatre, 646 hostages have been in hospital, 150 of them in intensive care and 45 "in a grave condition", says The Guardian. Two women have not yet regained consciousness. The authorities claim that the gas was used at 5.30am on Saturday because the gunmen had started shooting hostages, leaving them no alternative but to send in the Alpha Unit - Russia`s equivalent of the SAS. But despite the rising death toll, says The Independent, "the Russian government was refusing to reveal details of the gas used in the assault, referring to it only as `a special substance`." "London-based security expert Michael Yardley said he believed the gas was BZ, first used by the US in Vietnam," reports The Sun. "The Russians wouldn`t want to shout about it because BZ is the sort of stuff they are not supposed to have," he says. "It`s not specifically banned, but it is in a sort of grey area." [... more]

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