Armed pro-Chechen gunmen who seized scores of hostages in a luxury Istanbul hotel in a spectacular protest at Russia's "bloody" war in the Caucasus surrendered to authorities yesterday after freeing all their captives unharmed.
Thirteen handcuffed hostage takers were taken by bus for questioning at Istanbul police headquarters after the 12-hour drama at the Swisshotel Istanbul, the Bosphorus, ended peacefully yesterday morning, police chief Mr Kazim Abanoz told the Anatolia news agency.
Mr Abanoz said the group's 120 hostages were safe and sound. The five-star Bosphorus - the last residence of the Ottoman Sultans - would be thoroughly checked for explosives, he said.
"There were young people, amateurs, in the group. We decided not to opt for a police assault, which could have been risky," Mr Abanoz said.
Some 600 people, including 200 participants in an international conference of iron buyers, were staying in the hotel at the time of the hostage-taking.
The Russian foreign ministry said four Russian nationals had been among the hostages. Hong Kong's Cathy Pacific Airways said 12 of its crew members had been taken captive.
The gunmen burst into the lobby of the hotel in Istanbul's cosmopolitan Besiktas area late on Sunday night, before forcing their hostages into a conference room on the hotel's fifth floor, Anatolia reported.
They released 14 captives early yesterday, promising not to create bloodshed.
A Malaysian businessman among the hostages said he was relieved that no attempt to liberate them was made. "Thank God the Turkish authorities did not ambush the hotel. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened," Mr Mohamad Yunus Alias said. The gunmen surrendered peacefully to security forces and "apologised" to the Turkish people.
The armed group's leader, Mohammed Tokcan, is well known to the police and the general public in Turkey.
A Turk originating from the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, Tokcan led a proChechen commando unit which in 1996 held a ferry with 200 people on board for three days at Trabzon, on the Black Sea, in protest against Russian military action in Chechnya.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, was quick to warn that his country is not a haven for Chechen rebels. "The Chechens are our brothers but we can never approve of acts that go against the interests of Turkey," Mr Ecevit said.
Reuters reports from Moscow: Russian authorities moved the local pro-Moscow government in separatist Chechnya back to the shattered regional capital ofGrozny yesterday, pledging to rebuild homes and encourage exiled residents to return.
Russian television stations showed the new local administration building, which once housed a furniture factory, being formally opened to the sounds of a military brass band.
"I hope this move to the capital will be a step towards stability in our society and provide cohesion for those who want peace in our land," the head of the administration, Mr Akhmad Kadyrov, told the gathering.
"This city has been destroyed. Only we can rebuild it."
NTV television said the new building was strategically located next to a local military commander's office and a helicopter landing pad in a suburb. It would eventually be moved closer to the city centre.
State RTR television said differences emerged between local and Moscow officials over the absence of an overall reconstruction local plan.