Four Days At Dubrovka

Russian police stand outside the Dubrovka theater in Moscow after Chechen extremists stormed the building and took between 900 and 1,000 people hostage on the evening of October 23, 2002. 

Representatives of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) wave a white flag in an effort to gain access to the hostages on the morning of October 24.

Doctors remove a victim who had been shot by the militants.

Reporters gather at the police cordon to wait for news from inside the theater.

Hostage Maria Shkolnikova leaves the theater with a letter in which the hostages urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet the militants' demands and withdraw Russian troops from Chechnya.

People gathered outside volunteer to take the place of the hostages.

Special task forces gather nearby on October 25.

Representatives of the Red Cross gain access to the theater on October 25.

Security officers keep the area cordoned off.

On October 26, the fourth day of the hostage crisis, special forces stormed the theater. Here, doctors help a hostage wounded in the raid.

Troops carry out hostages, many of whom were badly affected by the gas pumped into the theater to subdue the militants.

The main explosive device planted by the militants, all of whom were killed in the raid