Hostages Taken At Russian School

(Breaking news from Moscow) In the southern Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia, near Chechnya, at least 20 masked, well-armed militants took 200 children and 40 adults hostage in a school. Another report says as many as 400 hostages have been taken. Local authorities stated that the hostage takers wore martyr's belts laden with explosives. Presently, it's not clear who the militants are but, due to the proximity of Chechnya, separatist rebels are prime suspects. Reuters is reporting that there was a shootout at the school and some teachers may have been killed.

Last night, the Rizhskaya metro station in North Moscow was blown up by a female suicide bomber. Ten people are dead and at least 51 are injured. Several witnesses said the woman was heading toward the metro station when she saw that police officers were checking IDs. At that point , she turned and exploded her bomb (estimated one Kg of TNT) which was packed with bolts and other metal objects.

There is speculation that the metro bombing may be related to the terrorist attacks of two Russian airliners last week, killing 90.

The passports of two Chechen women on board the flights -- identified as Amanat Nagayeva, 30, and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova, 37 -- were found at the crash sites in the Tula and Rostov regions. Their remains have not been identified, but investigators are looking into whether they may have been the bombers.

Izvestia reported Monday that the women shared an apartment with two other women in Grozny -- Nagayeva's sister Roza, 29, and Maryam Taburova, 27.

Both went missing ahead of the crashes and Izvestia speculated that they could be in Moscow plotting suicide attacks.

Authorities are continuing to sort through the evidence to identify the bombers.