Returning the War to Russia

KIZLYAR, DAGESTAN: Chechen rebels are holding as many as 1,000 hostages in a Russian hospital 60 miles north of Grozny, the Chechen capital. "Some 400 rebels attacked Kizlyar in neighboring Dagestan, an ethnic republic to the northeast of the breakaway region," reports TIME's Yuri Zarakhovich. "The rebels, who have lost at least six people in gunfighting, are now battling with federal troops for control of the town's railway station." Five policemen and five civilians have also been killed so far in fighting that raged through the city streets. Led by Salman Raduyev, the son-in-law of Chechen leader Jokhar Dudayev, the rebels say they will kill the hostages if Russia does not withdraw troops from Chechnya. The action was reminiscent of a similar incident last June, when Chechen fighters held more than 1,000 hostages in a hospital in the Russian city of Budyonnovsk. "The Budyonnovsk tragedy, at least, opened the way for talks with the rebels, aimed at ending the war in Chechnya," says Zarakhovich. "But now that the peace accord is in tatters and a new pro-Moscow leadership has been installed in Grozny, the rebels have nothing to gain from talks with Moscow and seem to be acting out of desperation."