BESLAN SCHOOL MASSACRE

BIJELJINA, SEPTEMBER 2 /SRNA/ - Russian special forces ended the hostage crisis at a school in Beslan on September 3, 2004, two days after the terrorist siege began.

A total of 334 people were killed in the terrorist attack, including 186 children, 10 officers, and nine people from the emergency services and the Interior Ministry. Thirty-one terrorists were killed.

A group of terrorists seized the school in Beslan, North Ossetia, on September 1 and took a total of 1,128 people hostage

The terrorists deliberately chose September 1, Knowledge Day, which traditionally marks the start of the new school year in Russia.

On that morning, children do not arrive at school alone. Ceremonies are held outside schools, attended by parents, relatives, and teachers.

That is why there were an unusually large number of people in the schoolyard when a group of 32 armed attackers, linked to the Chechen separatist insurgency, arrived shortly after 9:00 a.m.

Amid gunfire, the attackers forced people into the school building, with most of the hostages taken to the school gymnasium.

They then filled the gymnasium with explosive devices. According to later findings by the European Court of Human Rights, more than 1,100 people were inside, including a large number of young children.

Several male hostages were killed on the first day. The attackers threatened to kill hostages if Russian forces attempted to storm the school. Their demands were linked to the war in Chechnya and the withdrawal of Russian forces from the republic.

Conditions inside the school quickly became unbearable. The terrorists denied the hostages food and water, while hundreds of people were crammed into the hot gymnasium for hours. The crisis lasted for more than 50 hours.

Negotiations yielded virtually no results. However, on September 2, former president of neighbouring Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev was allowed to enter the school. His negotiations resulted in the release of 26 hostages, mostly women with very young children.

On the third day of the crisis, it was agreed that the bodies of people killed earlier during the siege would be collected. Shortly afterwards, explosions occurred in the gymnasium.

Following the explosions, part of the roof collapsed, a fire broke out, and some hostages attempted to flee the school. The terrorists opened fire, Russian forces returned fire, and the assault on the building began.

Chechen militant leader Shamil Basayev, one of Moscow's best-known and most wanted opponents at the time, claimed responsibility for organising the attack.

The only surviving terrorist, Nurpasha Kulaev, was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.