Beslan hostage crisis over

Approximately 340 wounded people have been taken to hospitals in Beslan and Vladikavkaz after the storm of the school captured by rebels in Beslan, reported the North Osetian Health Minister.

Over 10 terrorists who captured the school were killed in an exchange of fire, Reuters reported. The rebels were destroyed by special operations soldiers.

Four officers of the republican OMON special police force were wounded during the combat in Beslan, reported Ismel Shaov, head of the North Osetian Interior Ministry's information and public relations department.

Dozens of dead bodies have been found in the gym of the school in Beslan, reported the RIA Novosti information agency referring to a source in the North Osetian Interior Ministry.

Rescuers are preparing to remove obstructions in the burnt school gym. But the dead bodies are not being taken out of the school yet.

According to the Russian authorities' official information, 7 hostages died in the storm.

Residents of Beslan caught one of the rebels who escaped from the captured school. They started to beat him with legs. The Caucasian Knot correspondent in Beslan reported that police frightened away the crowd of locals in order not to let them kill the terrorist. But witnesses say the man who was considered a rebel was shot dead by a local man.

Earlier, head of the North Osetian parliament Taymuraz Mamsurov called upon residents of Beslan to divide into groups and comb the town for terrorists before dark. "You should form groups, take portable radio transmitters and stop any stranger not living in this block of buildings. It must be done before dark," Mr Mamsurov said.

Taymuraz Mamsurov's children were among hostages in Beslan, the Interfax news agency reported referring to a source in the operational headquarters to release hostages.