The UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting for later today, at the request of Russia, to discuss the wave of attacks in the country.
Reports from Russia today say that eight civilians and one gunman were killed and four injured in an attack by an armed gang on a school in the south of the country.
It is thought 17 masked men and women, some wearing belts of explosives, are holding up to 200 people, including around 132 schoolchildren, hostage in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia.
The gang is believed to be demanding the release of Chechen rebels arrested in the neighbouring region of Ingushetia.
Russian officials have said the gang has threatened to kill 50 schoolchildren for every one of their number killed by security forces.
Earlier, up to 50 children managed to escape during a lull in shooting between police and the attackers. A reporter at the scene said it appeared the children had hidden when the intruders stormed the school.
The latest incident comes amid heightened security in Russia after a suspected suicide bomb attack in Moscow last night and the bombing of two passenger planes last week.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has broken off his seaside holiday to return to Moscow to deal with the siege.
