MOSCOW, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet)--- At least 335 people including 155 children, were killed in the three---day hostage crisis (人质危机) in a southern Russian school, Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky said on Saturday.
“We are still identifying the bodies. We have recovered 322 bodies, and 155 of them are children,” Fridinsky was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
The prosecutor said the death toll would probably grow as the clean-up operation is continuing at the site, but it will not rise considerably.
Emergency workers pulled the bodies out of the school on Saturday, after Russian special forces rescued more than 400 children and adults hostages in a special operation that has suppressed (平定)the hostage -taking standoff by Friday night.
Valery Andreyev, regional chief of the Federal Security Service (FSS), said Friday that over 30 armed militants took part in the hostage-taking crisis and Russian troops captured three of them alive on Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.
He said people of Russian origin and foreign nationals were among the killed hostage-takers. Earlier official information showed that ten Arab militants were killed in Friday’s raid (突袭).
Andreyev said a large amount of explosives (爆炸物)and mines planted by hostage-takers in the school have been found.
Rusian Presidnet Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit early Saturday to the southern Russian town of Beslan where commandos (突击队) stormed the school to end the hostage crisis. He accused the attackers of trying to spark an racial conflict that would engulf (卷入)Russia’s troubled Caucasus Mountains region.
63. It can be inferred that the Russian hostage crisis began on ________.
A. Wednesday B. Monday C. Friday D. Saturday
64. The passage suggests that the terrorists _________.
A. hadn’t got any preparation before the attack
B. had informed the government to attack the school
C. had made a sudden attack to the school without any preparation
D. had prepared for the attack in advance
65. The underlined word “spark” in the last paragraph refers to _______.
A. speak out B. lead to C. start D. make
66. The last sentence of the passage indirectly states _______.
A. the purpose of the attackers’ taking over the hostage
B. the fighting between attackers and special forces was very fierce
C. Russian President was very sad about the hostage
D. there were many attackers in Caucasus Mountains region