Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 101 Fri. September 03, 2004       World Hostage relatives cling to hope in agonising vigil Ossetian women, relatives of hostages cry as they wait outside the school, where a group of gunmen, wearing belts laden with explosives, are holding some 350 people hostages in the northern Ossetian town of Beslan, 30km outside Vladikavkaz yesterday. Twelve civilians have lost their lives as a result of the seizure of hundreds of people at a school in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia. PHOTO: AFP