The BBC outdoes itself

I wouldn't have been surprised to hear the BBC was calling the Beslam terrorists, 'militants.' But this time, the Beeb has managed to come up with an even softer term: 'hostage-takers.'
See:

• here ("The North Ossetian regional government has confirmed 335 deaths in the siege, not including at least 30 hostage-takers reported to have been killed in the fighting"....."Earlier, Russian officials reported they were holding three of the actual hostage-takers, but later reports suggested none of the gang had been taken alive")
• here ("Analysis: The hostage-takers")
• here ("He threw all the blame for the tragedy on the hostage-takers")
• and apparently, their world-service broadcasts.

'Hostage-takers.' You'd never guess they were responsible for hundreds of deaths.