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Russian hostage tragedy: Putin takes stock of massacre at school

An injured schoolgirl who escaped from the seized Russian school holds a cross in her hand in a hospital in Beslan, North Ossetia, on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beslan on Saturday, one day after the violent end of a hostage drama at a school in the North Caucasus town claimed the lives of at least 250 adults and children and terrorized the community.

Putin went directly from the airport to a hospital where many injured hostages were being treated, before meeting with the leadership of the republic of North Ossetia where the tragedy unfolded.

"The whole of Russia suffers and grieves with you today, thanks you and prays for you," the president said in televised remarks.

"Even compared with brutal attacks in the past, this terrorist act holds a particular place because children were made the object."

Security chiefs were ordered to seal the republic during a search for participants and accomplices in the hostage-taking.

More than 600 people were hospitalized with injuries following the three-day long siege. The number of people killed in the fighting, not counting 27 gunmen, rose to 250, officials said Saturday.

"The dead include children, their parents, teachers and also members of the security forces who took part in freeing the hostages," a spokesman at the crisis headquarters in the town said.

More bodies were presumed to lay under rubble from explosions in the school where the terrorists held more than 1,000 people.

Intense fighting that erupted at 1pm on Friday involved steady shooting, bomb blasts and a fire in the building.

Russian commando leaders pronounced the school liberated late in the evening following 10 hours of pandemonium in which gunmen detonated explosives among hostages and gunned down many in cold blood.

The terrorists, who a top Putin aide said demanded that Russia withdraw from the strife-ridden neighboring republic of Chechnya, seized the school on Wednesday as parents and students gathered for the traditional start-of-term ceremony.

For the next 51 hours hours they refused to accept food, water and medicine for the hundreds of captives huddled in the school sports hall. A number of the hostages were killed.

Forced offensive

According to the official version of events, Russian troops were forced into an offensive after two powerful blasts in the sports hall where the hostages were kept.

As dozens of women and children fled the building, gunmen opened fire on them from automatic weapons, killing several children instantly. Russian forces ringing the school gave covering fire and then embarked on a rescue operation.

Commandos quickly blew a hole in the wall to allow more hostages to escape and then engaged the terrorists inside. Fighting spread to outlying streets and buildings as gunmen escaped in the confusion.

Doctors and medical equipment were flown on Saturday to Beslan to help treat the wounded, government officials in Moscow said. Two planes carrying staff and emergency supplies landed in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia.

At least 100 seriously injured children were fighting for their lives, Russian media reported. Another 531 people hurt in the hostage drama were admitted to hospital. A Moscow radio station said hospitals in the capital were also preparing to receive injured.

Ten members of the special forces died in the fighting and 18 were wounded.

A total of 27 terrorists were confirmed dead, according to a statement issued early on Saturday by commando leaders.

Three were taken prisoner, officials said earlier.

Eight of the hostage takers were killed on the grounds of the school; the others were killed in nearby residential areas.

Among the dead terrorists were 10 citizens of Arab countries, said Valery Andreyev, head of the FSB intelligence service in North Ossetia.
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