The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

ByABC News
September 3, 2004, 2:50 PM

Sept. 3 -- One hundred or more people were killed when Russian troops stormed a school Friday in a chaotic battle to free parents, teachers and children who had been held hostage for 53 hours by Chechen separatists, news wires report.

And, F.B.I. counterintelligence agents are investigating whether several Pentagon officials leaked classified information to Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, according to a law enforcement official and other people familiar with the case.

Plus, eight British terror suspects charged in a plot linked to U.S. financial targets were told on Friday they would not face trial until next September 2005.

And finally in Iraq, two French journalists held hostage in Iraq are out of danger and might be released within hours, a Sunni Muslim source said Friday.

THE WAR ON TERROR

INVESTIGATIONS

Russia

Russians Storm School; 100 Bodies Found

Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding hundreds of hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. More than 100 bodies were reportedly found in the gymnasium where hostages had been held. (AP)

Eyewitness: Scenes of Chaos

BBC correspondents Damian Grammaticas, Jonathan Charles and Sarah Rainsford describe what they have seen on the streets of Beslan. (BBC)

Russia School Siege: Nine Arab Attackers KilledRussian forces stormed a school Friday in southern part of the country and battled gunmen holding 1,200 hostages. An official told The AP the death toll could be more than 150. An estimated 520 people were wounded, health officials said. The regional health minister earlier reported that at least 218 children were wounded. (Al Bawaba)

United States

Wider FBI Probe of Pentagon Leaks Includes Chalabi

FBI counterintelligence agents are investigating whether several Pentagon officials leaked classified information to Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, according to a law enforcement official and other people familiar with the case. (Washington Post)

Israel Has Long Spied On U.S., Say Officials

Despite its fervent denials, Israel secretly maintains a large and active intelligence-gathering operation in the United States that has long attempted to recruit U.S. officials as spies and to procure classified documents, U.S. government officials said. (LA Times)