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Posted on 09/08/2004 5:20:20 AM PDT by ohioconservative
MOSCOW (AP) - The militants who raided a school in southern Russia last week were led by a man dubbed the Colonel, who enforced obedience by killing three fellow attackers - two by detonating the explosives they had strapped to their bodies.
Two days later, the attackers were moving the explosives they rigged around the gym where hundreds of hostages were held, and a bomb went off accidentally. That began the spiral of panic that led to the bloody conclusion of the standoff, in which more than 320 people were killed.
Those details were among several disclosed by Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov on Wednesday, in the government's first formal attempt to account for the tragedy last week. It came as Russia offered more than $10 million for information that helps "neutralize" two well-known rebel leaders from breakaway Chechnya accused of planning the attack.
Meanwhile, a military official echoed President Bush's advocacy of pre-emptive military actions to counter terror threats, asserting Russia's right to strike terrorists the world over.
"As for carrying out preventive strikes against terrorist bases, we will take all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian General Staff, told reporters Wednesday.
Ustinov, who met with President Vladimir Putin, said 326 hostages had been killed and 727 wounded in the attack, which ended Friday in a wave of explosions and gunfire as hostages tried to flee, and special forces and armed civilians tried to help them. He said 210 of the bodies had been identified, and forensic workers were also trying to identify 32 body fragments. The death toll could rise, Ustinov said.
Various officials had previously leaked some details of the investigation, but the government had not set out its own version of events until now.
The approximately 30 attackers, including two women, had gathered in a forest early on the morning of Sept. 1 and arrived at School No. 1 in Beslan in a military-type truck and two jeeps, packed with weapons and ammunition, Ustinov said.
They herded people who had gathered to mark the first day of school to the gym. Some of the militants objected to seizing a school, and their leader, who went by the name Colonel, shot one of them. He said he would do the same to any other militants or hostages who did not show "unconditional obedience."
Later that day, he detonated the explosives worn by two female attackers, killing them, to enforce the lesson, Ustinov said.
One of the militants was stationed with his foot on a button that would set off the explosives, Ustinov said; if he lifted his foot, the bombs strung up around the school gymnasium would detonate, he said.
On Friday, the militants decided for unknown reasons to reposition the explosives, and apparently set off one bomb by mistake, Ustinov said. That sparked panic, as hostages tried to flee, and the attackers opened fire.
That led Russian forces to storm the building.
Ustinov said his information was based on interviews with witnesses and the one alleged attacker who has been confirmed detained, identified as Nur-Pashi Kulayev. Officials believe the attack in the city of Beslan was orchestrated by militants from breakaway Chechnya.
Ustinov's deputy, Sergei Fridinsky, said that the bodies of 12 of the attackers had been identified, and that some of them had taken part in a June attack in the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia that targeted police and killed 88 people.
Some 1,200 hostages had been taken at the school, Ustinov said. It was the first official admission that the number of hostages had been so high; initially the government said about 350 people had been seized, and over the weekend a regional official said the number had been 1,181.
Ustinov's report came as the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, offered more than $10 million for information leading to the arrests of Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov.
The FSB said they had been responsible for "inhuman terrorist acts on the territory of the Russian Federation."
Maskhadov, the former president of Chechnya, had denied any involvement in the school standoff, according to aides. There has been no word from Basayev, a longtime rebel warlord who had claimed involvement in bloody raids and hostage takings in the past.
On Tuesday, Russians got a horrifying glimpse of the drama from video footage filmed by the militants who captured the school. The images, aired on a Russian television station, showed the heavily armed, hooded assailants amid the crowd of women, children and men in the school in Beslan.
The NTV station said the pictures - which showed hundreds of people crowded into the gym beneath a string of explosives dangling from a basketball hoop - were recorded by the assailants.
Hundreds of hostages were shown seated in the school's cramped gym. Many of them had their hands behind their heads. A thick streak of blood stained the wood floor.
Football-sized bundles of explosives were attached to wires and strings hanging from a basketball hoop. One attacker in camouflage and a black hood stood amid the hostages with a boot on what NTV said was a book rigged with a detonator.
Also Tuesday night, tens of thousands of people turned out at a government-backed rally in Moscow to condemn the terrorists and demand justice. Demonstrators bore banners with slogans such as "We won't give Russia to terrorists" and "The enemy will be crushed; victory will be ours." Authorities said the event drew about 130,000 people.
"I have been crying for so many days and I came here to feel that we are actually together," said Vera Danilina, 57.
The demonstration, organized by a pro-government trade union, was heavily advertised on state-controlled television for two days, with prominent *ACTORS* appealing to citizens to turn out. Banners bore the white, blue and red of Russia's flag, and speakers echoed Putin's statements that terrorists must be destroyed.
The Foreign Ministry said Russia would take new steps seeking the extradition of people it says are linked with terrorism, including Chechen rebel representatives Akhmed Zakayev and Ilyas Akhmadov.
Zakayev, an envoy for Maskhadov, has been granted refugee status in Britain. Akhmadov is in the United States.
The hostage-taking and other recent attacks "will help many in the West, where Zakayev and Akhmadov have found political asylum, to see the true face of terror and understand the measure of their delusion," the ministry said.
Were there really rapes going on? I've read on some other sites that this did not happen.
In terrorism, as in crime, there are no accidents.
"Conclusion: AP harbors terrorists and is a terrorist organization."
Time to take out the AP!
Beslan atrocity ping.
Premature, probably. The slaughtering of innocents typically is. Premature according to the plans of those who think that they have control over the timing of events.
I don't think Satan wanted Jesus crucified quite so hastily...so prophetically.
I also don't think Putin was allowed the opportunity to resolve this in a manner which would strenthen his hand, and weaken the US stand against such terrorism.
9th month
1st of the month
School #1
9-1-1
In fairness, the term "terror(-ist/-ism)" appears ten (10) times in the story.
But, I agree; if these b*st*rds are motivated by their religion -- is there any doubt? -- it MUST be reported. This is where the "political correctness" b*llsh*t has brought us.
"Later that day, he detonated the explosives worn by two female attackers, killing them, to enforce the lesson, Ustinov said."
what a miserable bastard. Of course they deserved it. How stupid do you have to be to wire yourself with explosives and give someone else the trigger?
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Janet Reno was advising them?
So, now we can expect Russian help in Iraq?
We can assume the Russians will quit helping the Iranians build a nuclear bomb?
The Russians will quit sending their latest weapons to Syria?
The Russians will get serious about helping us pressure North Korea to disarm its nukes?
(I'm not holding my breath)
Telling article.
Since they shouted "allah akbar" before they slaughtered some of the kids, it's clear they were motivated by their religion --- and the mainstream media won't even report about that. They don't even switch "allah" to "God" and report they shouted "God akbar". It's clear the media has an agenda here and it's not the truth.
A book rigged with a detonator doesn't look much like an accident no matter how much the mainstream media chooses to twist this.
I don't doubt it. But, out of curiosity, what's your source (since the media won't report it)?
I read it on here (FR) somewhere --- but I don't remember which thread it was on. It was a news source but maybe foreign.
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