A hostage taking in Moscow is going to get very very ugly.

About 20-50 Chechan rebels have taken over a crowded theatre and have made their intentions very clear.

One thousand people are inside that theatre.
Explosives have been strapped to women and gunfire has broken out.

A man claiming to be the leader of the group - a nephew of Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev - said he and his followers were suicide attackers who had come to Moscow “not to survive, but to die”.

Here are some eye witness reports from a few who escaped in the initial seige.
Here is some background on the Chechnya war.
Here is a profile and background of the leader of the theatre terrorists.

UPDATE: Muslims and 17 children were released. The hostage takers have said for every one of them killed, they will kill 10.

Latest reports say 700 people are being held hostage. Conflicting reports say about 30 terrorists are involved.

UPDATE: The Chechan terrorists want Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya’s Moscow appointed administration at the theatre, now. If he comes, they say they will release 50 hostages. Eye witness reports also say that land mines have been laid inside the building and a grenade was thrown when police showed up.
Also reports from a Russian news agency says 3 German and 3 British citizens are in the theatre.

Over at Google news as of this moment there are 246 related stories under the Moscow theatre takeover, mostly from overseas news outlets.
There are 2089 related links to the Maryland/Virginia/Washington story. Terror is terror whether you live in Moscow or Ashland.

Bali again…with an American slant
Mark Steyn has a great article in the Jerusalem Post regarding American media coverage of the Bali bombing. He lives in the US, and writes for Canadian and British newspapers. Steyn has a world view that Americans and their media can benefit from.

But the American media seem to operate on a similar principle: They’re all foreigners, so who cares? Australia is one of the US’s few real friends in the world. We’re not just fellow infidels, but brothers on a field of battle that stretches from Manhattan to Bali. If the American media don’t understand that, then the American president needs to remind them.