CULT LEADER FAILS TO SURRENDER DURING STANDOFF

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993                   TAG: 9303030309
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WACO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Medium
CULT LEADER FAILS TO SURRENDER DURING STANDOFF
An armed religious cult's leader failed to surrender as promised Tuesday and military vehicles surrounded his compound as a standoff dragged on through its third day. Negotiations continued.
A source said the death toll was at least 14. Others estimated 19.
Authorities have confirmed that four federal agents and at least two people inside the compound were killed in gun battles Sunday. But a federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that at least 10 were dead inside the compound.
Officials have said about 75 people were in the compound, but cult leader David Koresh has claimed more.
Eighteen children and two adults have been released since the siege began. Officials at the compound were reporting that as many as 20 more children could be released soon, Brian Gilbert, spokesman for the state Children's Protective Service, said Tuesday evening.
In a 58-minute taped statement broadcast earlier Tuesday on Texas radio stations at the FBI's request, the cult leader said: "I, David Koresh, agree upon the broadcasting of this tape to come out peacefully with all the people immediately.
"Even a man like Christ has to meet with unbelief," said Koresh, 33, who says he's Jesus.
"I'm sure you're all aware of how I'm involved in a very serious thing right now," Koresh said. "I am really concerned about the lives of my brethren here and also really concerned even greater about the lives of all those in this world."
Buses and other military vehicles moved nearer within minutes of the broadcast's start. But about two hours after its end, there was no indication Koresh had surrendered.
Negotiations with him continued into the night, ATF spokesman Jack Killorin said. He said agents were prepared to wait "a long time. . . . We don't have a time frame for this." He added that the cult members probably had plenty of food and water, but officials were "working so it does not go on for a month."
The siege began Sunday morning as about 100 ATF agents raided the compound to serve firearms-violations warrants on Koresh. Authorities said four agents and one child inside the compound - who Koresh said was his 2-year-old daughter - died in that raid. Another gun battle Sunday night left an adult cult member dead.
The Houston Chronicle, quoting unidentified sources, reported that children released from the compound said at least seven people inside were killed in the firefight. The newspaper also said agents believed they had killed as many as 15 people.
A state source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press he had heard that seven cult members had died and up to 40 people had been wounded.
Koresh told a radio station he had been gravely wounded Sunday.
He began letting children out late Sunday after a station agreed to broadcast a statement by him.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB