Moscow siege: one dead as threat is issued

The body of the first victim of the Chechen siege was wheeled out of the embattled Moscow theatre yesterday, as rebels again threatened to blow up the building and kill all the hostages unless their demands were met.

The dead woman, believed to be in her twenties, had been shot in the chest as she tried to escape on Wednesday night. Yesterday, the gunmen threw grenades at two other women as they escaped, wounding one.

Fears were last night growing for the fate of at least 600 hostages as chilling messages from the rebels, who call themselves a suicide squad, were broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite TV channel.

"Each of us is ready to sacrifice for God and the independence of Chechnya. We seek death more than you seek life," a black-clad male hostage-taker said in the broadcast. "Even if we are killed, thousands of brothers and sisters will come after us," declared a female hostage-taker, covered in a black robe except for her eyes.

Five hostages, including a 60-year-old British man, were released earlier in the day, after a Russian MP, Iosif Kobzon, who also is a singer popular among Chechens, and International Red Cross representatives entered the building waving a white flag.

But hopes of more releases faded. Later the Chechens telephoned news media to say they would no longer talk with parliamentarians and were only willing to hold negotiations with "the highest level of power".

About 75 foreigners, including two Britons who were in the audience, are still trapped inside the explosive-laden building. "The situation is very tense. There are diabetics in there. Their condition is beginning to play up. There are people with heart problems," said Sergei Ignatchenko, spokesman for the FSB security service, the successor to the KGB.

Britain dispatched counter-terrorism experts to Moscow last night to help with the crisis.

President Vladimir Putin said his highest priority was to save the hostages' lives, but insisted the raid was a "terrorist act" and that Russia would not submit to the rebels' demands.