Health Ministry sources said some 10 hostages might have been killed during the operation.

However, an official of the emergency center overseeing the hostage drama said renewed information showed that 32 hostage-takers were killed during the operation while the Russian security forces had no casualties.

He added that bombs and mines planted by the rebels in the theater had been defused.

He said a considerable number of the hostages had left the building and others remained to receive medical help.

The emergency center said sappers, rescuers and doctors were working in the building, while injured victims were seen taken to hospitals in ambulances.

The center said none of the female terrorists, who had explosive devices attached to their bodies, had managed to detonate them.

Russian Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasiliev said some hostage-takers might have been fled, adding that the Interior Ministry would guarantee their lives if they surrendered.

A search is under way for terrorists who may have changed their clothes and may have mingled with hostages, said the emergency center official.

Gunfire was heard in the theater. A terrorist, who attempted to go out of the theater with journalists, was identified and detained.

Russian Federal Security Service Spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said the rescue operation, which lasted for some 40 minutes, was carried out after the terrorists began to kill hostages at around 06:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT). And two male hostages had been killed and several others wounded, he said.

"We managed to prevent an explosion in the building and thus, avoid mass deaths of the hostages, especially the children," said Vasiliev.

The rebels had threatened to take "serious measures" early on Saturday if they did not see evidence that their demands that Russians be moved out of Chechnya were being met.

(People's Daily October 26, 2002)