Moscow, Oct 27: Russian Special Forces planned to storm the theatre where Chechen rebels were holding 800 people even before a deadline expired for the hostages' threatened execution, a person who took part in the assault told a newspaper today.

"In our eyes, it all went exactly according to plan. The main thing is we won the psychological war. We leaked information that the assault would be launched at 03:00 am. The rebels went on alert but there was no assault," the special forces member told Moskovsky Komsomolets. "They started to shoot. Then there was a normal reaction, they relaxed their guard. And at 05:00 am we began storming the building," he was quoted as saying on the newspaper's internet website. Russian officials had said they had been forced to storm the theatre to save the hostages after the Chechen rebels shot dead two men.

The dramatic events unfolded shortly before a 6:00 am (0200 GMT) deadline set by the rebels for President Vladimir Putin to comply with their demands, beyond which they had threatened to start killing their hostages. Bureau Report