Moscow: Nearly 700 hostages held in a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels have been released in an operation by Russian special security forces.

At the start of the operation, the chief hostage-taker, Movsar Barayev, was killed.

The theatre has been brought entirely under the control of security forces.

A number of Chechen rebels holding the hostages have been killed or arrested, Interfax news agency reported.

Earlier, the gunmen had told mediators that they would free their captives only if Russia pull back its military from Chechnya.


The rebels had threatened to start killing from early October 26 some of the hostages they were holding if Russia did not end its military campaign in the separatists' land.

"The first is that Putin has to say that war is over," journalist Anna Politkovskaya told reporters, after five-hours talks with the hostage-takers.

Politkovskaya said they told her that the Russians must begin withdrawing from one region anywhere in Chechnya to show their goodwill and that if the pullout were verified they would let all the hostages go.

Politkovskaya, along with state Duma Deputy Aslambek Aslakhanov, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and two Red Cross officials, were holding talks with the rebels, Interfax news agency reported.

Putin, who had earlier refused all contacts with the separatists, on October 25 night told the Kremlin that he was ready for "all contacts" over hostage-taking crisis, saying that priority was "to keep the hostages alive".

PTI