MOSCOW - (KRT) - The mystery gas used by Russian commandos to end the 58-hour standoff with Chechen rebels killed all but two of the 117 dead hostages, raising serious questions Sunday about President Vladimir Putin's decision to wrest control of the theater by force.

The death toll from Saturday's predawn raid could rise even higher: At least 45 of the 646 surviving hostages remained hospitalized in critical condition. Putin declared Monday a national day of morning.

Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said the unidentified gas was needed to incapacitate the rebels_especially 18 black robed women with apparent plastic explosives strapped to their waists_and because the theater's walls, aisles and columns were lined with mines.

Human rights groups denounced the raid and the government's use of a chemical agent.

At a news conference Sunday, Russian authorities refused to reveal what kind of gas or how much was used in the raid, saying only that they relied on "special means" to neutralize the 50 well-armed Chechen rebels.

Andrei Seltsovsky, chairman of Moscow's Health Committee, said 115 hostages were fatally poisoned by the gas the Russian commandos pumped into the ventilation system before the special forces rushed in through holes they had blasted into the walls of the theater.

Doctors who still had not been told what chemicals had been used were struggling Sunday night to treat hundreds with symptoms consistent with gas poisoning.

The government was being challenged about using the gas because the captives, including 20 young children, had eaten virtually no food for 58 hours and were forced to stay awake for much of the standoff.

The ordeal had sapped their strength and made them especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of the gas, said Moscow Chief Anesthesiologist Yevgeny Yevdokimov. Some of the dead were people with histories of heart disease, high blood pressure or asthma, he said.

"It wasn't the gas itself that led to these results," Yevdokimov said, "but the use of gas under these extreme conditions."

The standoff began Wednesday, when armed Chechen rebels stormed a theater showing "North-East," one of Moscow's most popular musicals, and took the audience and performers hostage. The rebels demanded that Putin withdraw Russia's troops from Chechnya and end the war against the rebels' separatist movement.

Rebels have been fighting for independence for their breakaway Islamic republic for five of the last eight years. The resumption of the war in September 1999 helped propel Putin into power.

Immediately following the raid, the government announced that 10 hostages had died. By the time Putin delivered a nationally televised speech on Saturday, the official toll stood at 90. In the speech, Putin declared the raid a success, telling families of the dead hostages, "We could not save everyone. Forgive us."

By Sunday, relatives of survivors were still being barred by the government from visiting hospitalized loved ones. Outside Hospital No. 13, relatives stood in the cold rain and waved and shouted at patients in windows who waved back.

As the death toll grew, many in the crowd said they didn't know if their loved ones were alive or dead.

"They carried out the operation to the end, but they haven't worked out what to do for the relatives," said Anatoly Belayusov who was searching for his daughter, Lyubov, 28. "Many cannot find their family members."

An official with a Russian human rights organization called Memorial denounced the government's action, saying "Putin's use of chemical weapons ranks this deed as a crime."

"I believe that on Saturday, Putin and the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service) demonstrated a total neglect for human life," said Irina Flige, head of Memorial's office in St. Petersburg.

Some relatives of hostages were equally critical.

Valery Pankratov, a 56-year-old engineer whose 30-year-old daughter, Anna, was hospitalized, called the raid "a tragic mistake. For our government leaders' political positions and their pockets, this operation was successful."

The Bush administration, meanwhile, was withholding public judgment on whether the use of gas was an appropriate response by the Putin government.

"We don't know what all the facts are," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

And while not endorsing the use of gas, Fleischer made it clear Sunday that the White House blames the captors for the deaths.

"The Russian government and the Russian people are victims of this tragedy, and the tragedy was caused as a result of the terrorists who took hostages and booby-trapped the building and created dire circumstances," he said.

The measured White House reaction came as President Bush was pressing Russia to support a tough resolution in the United Nations on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Many of the 50 assailants killed in the rescue mission died after being shot in the head, apparently while unconscious from the gas. The Federal Security Service said three other gunmen were captured, and authorities searched the city for accomplices or gunmen who may have escaped.

The chief Moscow prosecutor, Mikhail Avdyukov, said Sunday three people had been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of helping to carry out the raid, the Interfax news agency reported.

Toxicology and weapons experts speculated the gas may have been BZ, a colorless, odorless narcotic that causes hallucinations. The Reuters news agency quoted London-based security expert, Michael Yardley, saying the symptoms that hostages exhibited after the raid_difficulty walking, memory loss, fainting, heartbeat irregularities_are consistent with the use of BZ. Doctors said some of the hostages had died choking on their vomit.

However some reports from surviving hostages indicated the gas had an odor and may have had a grayish color.

At his news conference Sunday, Health Committee chief Seltsovsky said the gas caused cessation of breathing and severe disruption of circulation. The youngest to die from the gas was 13, he said.

Anesthesiologist Yevdokimov said doctors were informed of the raid before it happened and that an unidentified type of gas would be used.

A Russian commando told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that the chemical agent first knocked out the female rebels, who claimed to be Chechen war widows, sitting in the theater's red chairs.

"Our soldiers simply entered the hall and shot the sleeping terrorists point blank in the temple," the unidentified commando said. "I understand this is savage, but these are people with two kilos of plastic explosive"

Some of the hostages who were released Sunday from the hospital said they supported the decision to use gas.

"They found the most efficient option, releasing the gas," said Yegor Legiza, a musician in the "North-East" production's orchestra, walked out of Hospital No. 13. "It's good that they reacted so quickly."

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