The hostage crisis ended three days later, when Russian special forces released a knockout gas and stormed the theater. At least 129 civilians and 42 militants were killed.
Friends and relatives gathered outside the theater today, observed a minute of silence, and lit candles for the victims.
Tatyana Karpova, co-director of an NGO dedicated to supporting the victims' families, said slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who tried to negotiate with the militants at Dubrovka, would be honored as a victim of the hostage-taking crisis.
Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Russian policies in Chechnya, was killed in Moscow on October 7.
(RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS)
Chechen Female Suicide Bombers
Zarema Muzhikhoyeva, who was arrested in July 2003 while attempting to explode a suicide bomb, in a Moscow court in August 2004 (TASS)
RADICALIZED WOMEN: In October 2002, 42 Chechen militants seized hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater. Nineteen of the hostage-takers were women, marking the first time women had participated in a mission of this type on this scale. However, Chechen women have been carrying out suicide and other attacks since at least 2000.
September 1-3, 2004: More than 30 Chechen terrorists seize more than 1,000 hostages at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. According to reports, two to four of the terrorists were women.
August 31, 2004: Roza Nagayeva , the sister of Amanat Nagayeva (see above), blows herself up outside a Moscow metro station, killing 10.
August 24, 2004: Two Chechen women, Amanat Nagayeva and Satisita Dzhbirkhanova, detonate explosives on two Russian commercial airliners nearly simultaneously, killing a total of 90 people.
February 6, 2004: An unidentified woman kills more than 40 people in a suicide bomb attack in the Moscow metro.
December 9, 2003: An unidentified woman blows herself and six others near a Moscow hotel.
December 5, 2003: Four suicide bombers -- reportedly three women and a man -- blow up a commuter train in southern Russia, killing at least 44 people.
July 27, 2003: An unidentified woman blows herself and a female civilian up at a security checkpoint in Grozny.
July 10, 2003: Zarema Muzhikhoyeva is detained while attempting to explode a bomb near a downtown Moscow hotel. A police sapper is later killed trying to disable the bomb.
July 5, 2003: Two female suicide bombers -- Zulikhan Elikhadzhiyeva and Maryam Sharipova -- kill 14 at Moscow rock concert.
June 5, 2003: An unidentified female suicide bomber blows up a bus in Mozdok, North Ossetia, killing at least 18.
May 14, 2003: One or two female suicide bombers kill at least 16 at the Chechen town of Iliskhan-Yurt. Russian authorities believe the attack was an attempt to assassinate pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov.
May 12, 2003: Two or three suicide bombers explode a truck at a government complex in Znamenskoye, Chechnya, killing at least 60 people. According to some reports, the truck was driven by two unidentified women.
October 23-26, 2002: Nineteen of the 41 militants who seized hostages at a Moscow theater were women. All the terrorists died when special forces stormed the building.
November 29, 2001: Elza Gazuyeva detonates a bomb, killing herself and a Russian military officer in Urus-Martan. Gazuyeva blamed the officer for ordering the killing of her husband.
June 7, 2000: In the Chechen town of Alkhan-Yurt, Khava Barayeva -- a woman related to two Chechen field commanders -- detonates a truck bomb. The Russian military says two soldiers were killed.
CHRONOLOGY
An annotated timeline of the Chechnya conflict. An annotated timeline of major terrorist incidents related to the Chechnya conflict.
RFE/RL's complete coverage of Russia's war-torn Republic of Chechnya.
