Over 100 corpses of dead hostages are found inside the Russian school where militants seized hundreds of people, the Russian Interfax agency reported Friday, citing its correspondent on the scene.

It said that some of the dead had lost their lives when the school's roof caved in earlier Friday after Russian special forcesstormed the site in southern Russia to end the three-day long hostage crisis.

The report also cited the health ministry as saying that over 400 local residents and former hostages were taken to hospital Friday after being wounded in the siege.

A British ITV News reporter said up to 100 bodies were seen lying in school gymnasium.

Julian Manyon said his cameraman got into the gym briefly and saw up to a hundred bodies.

"There was a large number of corpses lying on the smoldering floor," Manyon said.He said it appeared explosive charges laid by the attackers had been detonated.

"I wasn't able to get through the door (to the gym). I was stopped by soldiers. But our cameraman ... did manage to get through the door just for a few moments. He told me that in his estimation there are as many as 100 dead bodies," he said.

Earlier reports said over 310 people, mostly children, were wounded and dozens were killed in the storming.

The Itar-Tass news agency quoted regional health ministry sources as saying that the wounded children and parents were takento nearby hospitals.

A Children's hospital head in regional capital said earlier that 69 wounded child hostages had been admitted, five in grave conditions.

Russian troops stormed the school in a chaotic battle to free the children who had been held hostage since Wednesday by Chechen separatists.

Naked and screaming children ran for safety amid machine-gun fire and explosions while attack helicopters clattered overhead. Rebels fled with soldiers in pursuit.

Witnesses at the scene in Beslan, in the North Ossetia region near Chechnya, said about 10 bodies were taken out of the school on stretchers. Reports said at least seven people had been dead onarrival at hospital.

There was no definite toll yet. Tass quoted an unidentified official as saying most of the hostages were alive.

"Those children who remained in the school, in general, were not hurt. The ones who suffered were the children in the group which ran from the school and on whom the fighters opened fire," the official said.

The clashes appeared to have begun shortly after authorities said they had sent a vehicle to the school to fetch bodies. Various reports said this had been followed by a break-out attemptby either hostages or rebels.

Russian troops had blown a hole in a wall to let hostages escape in the operate to free them. Witnesses saw three armored personnel carriers with heavily armed soldiers on board approaching the school. Later, soldiers were seen battling gunmen who had fled to a house in the south of the town.

Reports said five hostage-takers were killed on the spot when the special forces began the operation.

Interfax cited police as saying that the hostage-takers, believed to number about 40, had separated into three groups amid storming and tried to break out through crowds of frantic relatives waiting near the school as Russian special forces moved in.

The regional security service said on Friday that the assault had not been planned in advance.