I've been watching this story unfold on the BBC. It was never going to end peacefully because there was no room for negotiation and the hostage takers seemed prepared to die.
There's a lot of unconfirmed speculation flying around such as whether the siege might be tied-in with the recent terrorist attacks on Russian airliners. There were reports that some of the militants were wearing suicide jackets. Someone mentioned the Chechnyan black widows - women who have lost husbands and sons in the conflict with Russia and have been groomed to become suicide bombers. If such women were involved, then this tragedy rests on the foundation of a chain of smaller, but no less significant tragedies.
Did anyone else get the sense that the Russian troops were having trouble keeping the crowds of concerned family members under control. I heard that some of the terrorists were able to escape into the swell of people, when the fighting broke out.
