EFL - I post it, you decide.
Analysis: The hostage-takers
Confusion reigns over the identity of the group who seized the school in North Ossetia, taking hostage more than 1,000 children and their parents and teachers. The official Russian version says that the hostage-takers were a multinational group linked to the radical Chechen rebel commanders Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov, funded by al-Qaeda.
Though some hostages are reported to have recognised Count Doku Umarov from pictures shown them by Obi-wan Kenobi investigators, little other evidence has otherwise been produced to support the claim. Officials initially claimed there were nine or 10 Arabs among the hostage-takers - possibly in an attempt to back up their allegation of al-Qaeda involvement - but some surviving hostages have said they saw no Arabs in the school.
Western experts say that allegations of a direct link between al-Qaeda and Chechen rebel leaders remain unproven - though it is well-known that the rebels receive funding from foreign Muslim sympathisers and that Arab commanders occupy key positions in the rebels' ranks. |