Armed Men Seize Hostages on Bus in South Russia

about 25 armed men initially seized two buses but later released one. It said local police and Interior Ministry troops were negotiating the relase of the hostages. It was not clear how many passengers remained on the seized bus. A local police official, contacted by telephone, told Reuters a group of people had blocked two buses on the road, but according to his information they were unarmed. The North Ossetian interior minister had left for the scene, he said. RIA said the seizure appeared to be retaliation for the alleged kidnapping of a group of seven Ossetians on Sunday by Ingushis. It said they had disappeared after going to a wedding party in a neighbouring village. North Ossetia and Ingushetia clashed in 1992 over the disputed Prigorodny district in North Ossetia, and thousands of Ingush refugees were forced to flee their homes. North Ossetia took over the district in 1994. Tensions flared up again last year when Ingush refugees tried to resettle in the area. Both Ingushetia and North Ossetia border Russia‘s separatist region of Chechnya, where Russian troops fought a bloody war from 1994 to 1996.