'I saw people running away in all directions. They were firing at them from the roof'

No military action was planned. We were planning further talks ... The bandits opened fierce fire on the running adults and children. To save the lives of the hostages, return fire was opened on the bandits. Local people who were armed also opened fire on the bandits. This did not allow the special forces to do their work effectively ... There are 10 people originating from the Arab world among 20 killed terrorists.

Valery Andreyev, regional head of the FSB security service

No military action was planned. We were planning further talks ... The bandits opened fierce fire on the running adults and children. To save the lives of the hostages, return fire was opened on the bandits. Local people who were armed also opened fire on the bandits. This did not allow the special forces to do their work effectively ... There are 10 people originating from the Arab world among 20 killed terrorists.

Unnamed boy

Suddenly there was an explosion. And we lay down behind our chairs. I was full of fear. People could not get out and were smashing the windows. We were lucky we had plastic windows in our sports hall. Otherwise there would have been more cuts and injuries. I saw people running in all directions. Some 200 or 300 people were running in the same direction we were. They were firing at the escaping people from the roof.

Zalina Dzandarova, 27, hostage

Two women suicide bombers blew themselves up in a corridor of the school on the first day, killing some male hostages. The men terrorists told us their sisters had conquered. There were 1,500 hostages and seemed to be about 30 gunmen. The gunmen shot dead at least 20 people on the first day. They killed those who had been wounded during the invasion of the school and also killed men who tried to resist them. Some of the wounded were taken out of the gym and finished off in the corridor.

Ruslan Pukhayev, whose seven-year-old grandson, Gennady, was wounded in the shoulder

It's incredible. The whole thing is horrible for him. The whole thing happened before his very eyes. It will be years before he understands it. My God, who needed this?

Diana, a survivor

People had had nothing to eat or drink. We were forced to urinate into bottles and drink our own urine through our shirts that we put over the top of them.

Richard Ayton, Reuters correspondent

There is a constant stream of ambulances coming from the school carrying people. Many of them look lifeless ... I can see 23 bodies outside the hospital morgue, six of them in uniform and 17 are children.

Leonid Roshal, pediatrician involved in the negotiations

They are cruel people, we are facing a ruthless enemy. I talked with them many times on my cellphone, but every time I ask to give food, water and medicine to the hostages they refuse.

Rita Gadzhinova, physics teacher, freed on Thursday with her three-year-old daughter, Madina. Her other daughters, aged 11 and 14, were trapped inside

The attackers herded the captives into the gym where they planted two big bombs in the basketball baskets and laid cables leading to other, smaller charges across the floor. They never removed their masks and talked in a whisper, speaking Russian with Chechen or Ingush accents. You could not tell how many of them there were and there were no women fighters in the gym. They would fire into the ceiling to frighten the captives but did not abuse anyone. Men were periodically put up against windows as human shields. The youngest children were very frightened but they behaved with great discipline though they often asked to go to the toilet because of their fear. They were marched to the toilet and if the toddlers started to cry the fighters would fire blanks in the air and shout for them to keep quiet.

Tamara Betuyeva, 52, aunt of trapped 13-year-old

Who let them in? We import fruit from abroad and they check every last thing on the lorry. The Chechens are to blame for everything. I would eliminate them all just as Stalin did. The world would be a much happier place. Don't they have children too? Don't they know what it feels like?

Anonymous security official

Those children who remained in the school, in general, were not hurt. The ones who suffered were the children in the group which ran from the school and on whom the fighters opened fire.

Julian Manyon, ITV reporter

I was stopped by the Russian soldiers but our cameraman did manage to get through the door for a few moments. He told me that in his estimation there are as many as 100 bodies, I am afraid, lying on the smouldering floor of the gymnasium where we know that a large number of the hostages were being held."

Rachel Amatt, reporter, Sky News

The families are surrounding the school, many of them armed, desperately waiting for their children. They stare in the windows of cars and ambulances, hoping to catch a glimpse of their sons and daughters. A soldier helps two children. I see a woman in black with tears pouring down. All the hostages have been evacuated from the gym but they're still coming out of the school in a stream. They've all been unconscious. Almost everybody who has come out has been in a dreadful state. They are nearly all badly injured and all have burns to the legs, are unconscious and in a bad way. We can still hear scattered gunfire. Heart-warmingly, townspeople have been bringing their cars to take the children to hospital. The cars dash past with children in the back, their legs bloodied. It is a dreadful scene. The crack of gunfire has returned.

Peter Baker, 'Washington Post' reporter

Suddenly, what seemed to be a completed battle erupted in full-fledged violence all over again. There is still gunfire, but not with the same intensity. It's hard to tell exactly what's happening. Of course, the Russian troops are probably going through the school and nearby property trying to mop up any remaining opposition that is there ... Dozens of bodies have been brought out. Many of them seemingly alive, but so badly injured, it's hard to imagine that they'll survive.

Russian policeman

Everyone to the hospital. Quickly. The wounded will need blood.