The death toll is reported anywhere from 150 to 200, and in all reports, it is expected to rise.

Russia's hostage crisis erupted into explosions, gunfire and screams of
fleeing children Friday as commandos stormed the school where militants strapped
with bombs had held as many as 1,200 people hostage. More than 150 people were
dead, and officials said the toll would rise significantly.

I have been watching this story closely over the past few days - for the sole reason that the North American press has not made front page headlines out of it. A politician gets a hangnail, or a media baron runs off with all the company money, and it's all over the place. Children are taken hostage by Chechen rebels in Russia, and we probably think they deserve it. They don't.

Dozens of corpses including children's bodies were seen outside a morgue,
and the number of dead is expected to rise.

There is still confusion over what caused an explosion in the school that
prompted special forces to attack, in an operation which Russia says was
unplanned but needed to save the lives of the hostages.

There were scenes of pandemonium, as children ran terrified and
half-naked amid intense gunbattles out of the school, grabbing water bottles
from medics.

I cannot imagine what it must be like for the terrified kids, some of them no more than babies, or what their parents must be going through, waiting for word that their child is safe, or worse - that they are not.

These Russian families will be in my thoughts tonight, even if CNN can only show clips of interviews with various Bushes.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.