[Horatio]

Just in case some of you want to see what the MAIL ON SUNDAY has to say:

Innocent hostages of the Moscow theatre seige were gassed to death by the troops sent to rescue them, it emerged last night. Commandos of Alpha Force, Russia's SAS, pumped secret sleeping gas into the auditorium where Chechen terrorrists were holding 850 hostages and then launched a devastating assualt using stun grenades and automatic weapons. Some 34 terrorists were slain-but so were at least 90 innocents. Many were caught in the crossfire as hooded troops and Chechens-many of them women- engaged in a vicious gun battle. There were angry claims last night, however, that the sleeping gas was responsible for over half the deaths. Russian officials refused to identify the compound last night, but doctors confirmed that it caused paralysis and heart failure. Last night some 40 hostages were being treated in Moscow hospitals, suffering from the effects of the 'poisening'. Furious arguments broke out when relatives were denied access to the casualties. The official explanation was that the authorites feared some terrorrists might be posing as released hostages. Angry families claimed that the hospitals had been comp[letely sealed off simply because the government did not want the truth to emerge about the gas attack. This was backed up by two senior doctors who spoke out, against Russian regulations, to claim taht the so called 'sleeping gas' was really a strong poisen. Olga Karpova, of the Moscow Rescue Service, said 'This was a strong poisenous substance which effectively paralyses the respiratory system and affects the cardiological system. It can result in death. I saw this with my own eyes today."