[Pfc.Green]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chechen separatist guerrillas killed one woman as they seized a Russian theater and threatened to shoot or blow up 700 hostages Thursday unless Russia pulled its troops out of their homeland.

Police said the group of about 40, including masked women with explosives strapped to their bodies, had shot a woman who tried to escape as they burst into the theater Wednesday night.


The rebels, who called themselves a suicide squad, made threats on a Chechen Web site and via hostages to blow up the theater or begin killing captives unless their demands were met.

Sergei Ignatchenko, a spokesman for the FSB security service, said a body wheeled out of the theater late Thursday was that of a young woman who had not been identified. "She was killed yesterday as she tried to escape during the takeover," he told NTV television. Officials said some 60 foreigners were among the captives.


Russian President Vladimir Putin,who rose to power on pledges three years ago to boost public security, said the main task was to secure the hostages' safe release.

He said information from the rebels' representatives confirmed that "the terrorist act was planned abroad."

Governments around the world denounced the hostage-taking and called on the world community to unite against such acts of terror.

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These Chenchen punks need to die.