After the Fire, the Figures

PERVOMAYSKAYA, DAGESTAN: Russian troops scoured the black and smoking ruins of Pervomayskaya, looking for any Chechen rebels who might have survived Thursday's attack on the town. By Russian President Boris Yeltsin's official body count, 137 of the 320 rebels remain unaccounted for. It's believed that many of them escaped through Russian lines during fierce fighting Thursday as hundreds of Chechens crossed into Dagestan in a daring raid to free the trapped rebels. Among those thought to have escaped: Salman Raduyev, commander of the rebel group. Just how many hostages were killed in the assault, and by whom, is still unclear. "Moscow now says there were 110 hostages, but journalists who worked in the area estimated their number at 170," says TIME's Yuri Zarakhovich. "Yeltsin said Thursday night that 82 hostages had been set free. The rest presumably were killed during the Russian attack. None of the freed hostages confirmed a single case of fellow hostages being executed by the rebels, as the Russian government had claimed."