RUSSIA - Sep 2 - Gunmen Release 26 In Hostage Siege.

Armed rebels release 26 hostages from a siege at a school in the southern republic of North Ossetia as the stand-off enters a second day. The release of the women and children from the school, in which at least 350 people are being held, came after the intervention of a former regional political leader. Russian Pres Vladimir Putin spoke in public for the first time since the siege in the town of Beslan began, stressing the importance of preserving lives and the need to avoid inter-ethnic conflict. Putin told King Abdullah of Jordan, who was visiting the Kremlin saying: "Our main task is to save the life and health of those who have ended up as hostages. All the actions of our forces...will be devoted to solving this task". A former President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, held negotiations during the day with the rebels. The armed gang has demanded the end of the war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and the withdrawal of Russian troops. They also want the release of a number of rebels suspected by the authorities of involvement in raids in Ingushetia in June. Most residents in Beslan spent Sep 2 in the streets. The mood was one of frustration and fatigue. Shops and offices were closed as people concentrated on the drama taking place nearby in school Number One. When local officials announced the release of the 26 hostages on Sep 2 afternoon a huge cheer went up from the hundreds of people who had gathered in front of the town's Palace of Culture. It was only later that the authorities posted a detailed list of those who had been released. Most of them were women with babies caught in the crisis as they had taken their elder children to school. Anger at local political leaders for their low profile during the crisis was at least as widespread as criticism of Pres Putin in creating the conditions that led to the conflict. "Where are our leaders"? said Larisa, the owner of a cafe in a nearby town who had spent the past two days in Beslan to gather information on her nephew, who was held inside. "They didn't come. They are useless", she said. Vitaly, whose niece and nephew were in the school, shrugged in indifference at Putin's conciliatory comments that saving human life was paramount. "Those are just words far away in Moscow", he said. Most locals argued that storming the school would be inadmissible. "They should meet the terrorists' demands", said Asa, a doctor based in St Petersburg, who prolonged her holiday visit to her home town as a result of the crisis. "What are 30 people compared with the hundreds inside"? she said, in a reference to the demands by the hostage-takers for the release of the rebels suspected of involvement in raids on Ingushetia last June.