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| 3 days in hell: Russia mourns |
September 1 marks 10 years since one of the most horrifying terrorist
attacks in Russia, the Beslan school siege which saw over 300 people,
186 of them children, killed. Events to commemorate the massacre are
taking place across the country.
The site of the tragedy, former school #1 in Beslan, a small town
in Russia’s North Ossetia, will become the center of the
remembrance ceremonies which have been annually held since 2005.
READ ALSO: ‘I
don’t feel guilty’: Single surviving Beslan terrorist unrepentant
10 years after tragedy
In what has now become a tradition, the three-day events to
commemorate those killed in the attack, will start at the
schoolyard with a bell ring. Such bells ring in all Russian
schools on September 1,
symbolizing the beginning of a school
year. For survivors of the Beslan massacre and relatives of the
victims it is the bell toll that divided their lives 'before' and
'after'.
A
cemetery in Beslan, North Osetia--the last abode of victims of the
September 2004 appalling terror act at secondary school No. 1 (RIA
Novosti/Kazbek Basaev)
Hundreds of people, including public activists and top officials,
are expected to come to the site to pay their tributes to the
hostages and those who lost their lives in the tragedy. They will
lay more flowers and light candles at the walls of the ruined
school building and a recently opened monument: a 50-meter long
granite memorial with the names of all the victims carved on it.
Toys and bottles with water will be brought in: the captives were
held in the cramped, stuffy school gym and suffered from
unbearable heat and thirst.
On September 2, a requiem concert will be held on the stage of
Beslan’s culture center. On Wednesday, at a ceremony in the
schoolyard, students will release into the air 334 white balloons
- the number of people who died in the hostage crisis. Later in
the day, the commemorating ceremonies will move to the town’s
cemetery – called The City of Angels – where hundreds of the
victims were laid to rest.
The bloodiest terrorist attack in Russia’s history claimed - in
official figures – the lives of 186 children, 118 relatives or
school guests, 17 teachers, 10 special forces officers, 2
Emergencies Ministry employees and one policeman. A further 810
people were injured.
RT looks back at 2004 Beslan hostage crisis
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The Day of Knowledge, the beginning of a school year. A
long-awaited event for first-graders: dressed nicely, with their
brand-new school kits they rushed to Beslan’s school #1 for their
First Bell ceremony. Many pupils were accompanied by relatives
and younger siblings. A noisy crowd of people – including 859
students and 59 teachers - gathered in front of the school
building for festivities.
Shortly after 09:00 am local time 32 heavily-armed gunmen on two
vehicles broke into the school and opened fire. Several civilians
were killed in the shootout between the attackers and local
police who ran to the scene after first gunshots were heard.
This
TV grab image taken from Russian NTV channel 07 September 2004 shows
wires and hostages in the gymnasium of the Beslan school, northern
Ossetia. (AFP/NTV)
The terrorists ordered the people to get inside the school
building. Between 50 to 100 people – primarily high-graders and
adults – managed to run away, but about 1,100 hostages were
forced into the sports hall.
This
TV grab image taken from Russian NTV channel 07 September 2004 shows a
gunman connecting wires as hostages sit in the gymnasium of the Beslan
school, northern Ossetia. (AFP/NTV)
The gunmen barricaded doors and windows in the gym and started
mining the building with explosive devices. Russian media
reported that there were two women wearing suicide-bomb belts
among the attackers.
This
TV grab image taken from Russian NTV channel 07 September 2004 shows a
gunman walking as hostages sit in the gymnasium of the Beslan school,
northern Ossetia. (AFP/NTV)
At around 10am one hostage, an adult man Ruslan Betrozov, was
reportedly shot dead in the gym, right in front of the children,
after trying to talk to the terrorists and calm down the
captives.
Broken
windows are seen at the rear of a school building seized by heavily
armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of
North Ossetia. Broken windows are seen at the rear of a school building
seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in
the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya, September 2, 2004.
(Reuters)
By 11am the school territory was surrounded by police forces and
residents of nearby buildings were evacuated. Senior public
officials arrived at the site. Two authorities suggested
exchanging themselves for captured children, but the terrorists
turned down the proposal. President Vladimir Putin canceled his
summer vacation in Sochi and returned to Moscow.
Hundreds
of Ossetian inhabitants, relatives of hostages wait outside the school,
where a group of gunmen, wearing belts laden with explosives, are
holding hostage some 350 people in the northern Ossetian town of Beslan,
some 30 kms outside Vladikavkaz, 02 September 2004. (AFP Photo/Maxim
Marmur)
The attackers, filming everything that was happening inside the
school, announced they would only talk to the president of North
Ossetia, president of the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia or
Vladimir Rushailo, who was Russia’s Interior Minister in
1999-2001. The latter was however confused with Professor Leonid
Roshal, a famous Russian pediatrician, by the hostage who was
taking down the note. The terrorists demanded the withdrawal of armed forces from
Chechnya (a Russian republic in the North Caucasus) and the
release of a group of arrested gunmen.
Russian
soldiers take position outside the school, where a group of gunmen,
wearing belts laden with explosives, are holding hostage some 350 people
in the northern Ossetian town of Beslan, some 30 kms outside
Vladikavkaz, 02 September 2004. (AFP/ITAR-TASS)
The hostage-takers threatened to blow up the school in case
police attempted to storm the building. They put children in the
windows using them as human shields and said they would kill 50
hostages for every killed member of their group and 20 – for
every wounded one.
At 3:50pm the Russian Air Force delivered the first groups of
Special Forces troops.
Between 4 and 4:30pm, a blast and shooting were reported in the
seized school. Several hostages died and their bodies were thrown
out of the windows shortly later.
A
Russian special forces soldier aims at a position outside the school,
where a group of gunmen, wearing belts laden with explosives, are
holding hostage some 350 people in the northern Ossetian town of Beslan,
some 30 kms outside Vladikavkaz, 02 September 2004. (AFP/ITAR-TASS)
Dr. Roshal, though unwanted by the gunmen, still managed to
establish contact with them at around 8pm. They insisted that the
presidents of Ingushetia and North Ossetia, along with Putin’s
advisor Aslambek Aslakhanov, must participate in the talks as
well.
By 9pm a large crowd of people – mainly the hostages’ relatives –
had gathered outside the school building. The gunmen refused to
accept medicine, water and food for the hostages.
Relatives
of school children being held hostage wait for further developments as
they sit near the seized school in the town of Beslan, province of North
Ossetia near Chechnya, September 1, 2004. (Reuters)
Thursday, September 2, 2004
Negotiations between Roshal and the attackers continued late into
the night, but brought no breakthrough.
In the morning, the head of oil refining company RussNeft,
Mikhail Gutseriev, offered terrorists money in exchange for
hostages. They declined the proposal.
An
Ossetian militiaman aims from a boarding school, at the opposite
school, where a group of gunmen, wearing belts laden with explosives,
are holding hostage some 350 people in the northern Ossetian town of
Beslan, some 30 kms outside Vladikavkaz, 02 September 2004.
(AFP/ITAR-TASS)
At 2pm President Putin made his first official statement on the
situation: “
Our main task is, of course, to save the lives
and health of the hostages. All actions of our forces dealing
with the hostage release will be focused on that exclusive
task.”
As a result of negotiations, by 4pm the gunmen agreed to meet
with former Ingush President Ruslan Aushev. After the talks, 26
hostages – women with babies – were released. The gunmen also
handed a message to Aushev with their demands: the withdrawal of
troops from Chechnya and full sovereignty to the republic.
Russian
police officer carries a released baby from the school seized by
heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan.
(Reuters/Viktor Korotayev)
Meanwhile, Roshal continued negotiations with the attackers,
asking them to allow food and water be passed to the captives,
but the talks yielded no positive results.
A
Russian soldier waits on his position as a car burns outside the school
where a group of gunmen, wearing belts laden with explosives, are
holding civilian hostages in a school in the northern Ossetian town of
Beslan, some 30 kms outside Vladikavkaz, 02 September 2004. (AFP
Photo/Maxim Marmur)
Friday, September 3, 2004
Several blasts rocked the school and shooting was reported during
the night and early in the morning.
Those released said that the number of hostages inside the
building was over 1,000 instead of 354 as it had initially been
thought.
Volunteers
carry an injured civilian to safety after soldiers stormed a school
seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in
the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya , September 3, 2004.
(Reuters)
Shortly after the noon, the terrorists allowed Emergencies
Ministry workers to approach school to retrieve the bodies of
those killed that had been lying in front of the building for two
days.
Russian
special police forces soldiers jump from an APC during the rescue
operation in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, 03 September 2004. (AFP
Photo/Maxim Mamur)
At around 1pm, as rescuers got to the site, two powerful
explosions ripped through the school gym followed by gunfire. It
was not immediately clear what caused the blasts, but later
reports suggested that the gunmen provoked them accidentally.
According to one version, a suicide bomber blew herself up.
According to another, explosive devices placed into hoops in the
gym fell down.
Ossetian
volunteers carry a stretcher with injured boy in the school garden
during the attack operation in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, 03
September 2004. (AFP Photo/Yuri Tutov)
The blasts triggered chaos, with hostages trying to flee through
a hole in the wall and terrorists opening fire on them. Security
forces returned fire and helped a dozen captives run away, often
sheltering them with their own bodies.
A
Russian special forces soldier carries an injured woman during the
rescue operation of Beslan's school, northern Ossetia, 03 September
2004. (AFP Photo/Yuri Tutov)
The gunmen attempted to force the remaining hostages from the
partly ruined sports hall to the canteen.
This
TV-grab image shows Russian soldiers helping an injured woman during
the rescure operation in Beslan, North Ossetia 03 September 2004.
(AFP/NTV)
At 1:10pm security forces started storming the building. Snipers
opened fire on terrorists’ firing points while troops were
evacuating the hostages. Federal Security Forces (FSB) officers
broke into the gym: there were dozens of wounded and exhausted
hostages there, but the terrorists had moved to the school
canteen and were shooting from there.
Russian
special forces soldiers run during the rescue operation of Beslan's
school, northern Ossetia, 03 September 2004. (AFP Photo/Yuri Tutov)
At about 2.20pm a blaze broke out in the sports hall. By the time
fire brigades arrived at the scene, the majority of hostages from
the gym had been evacuated. About a hundred special forces troops
were inside the building. Five militants were reportedly killed.
This
TV-grab image taken from Russian NTV channel shows hostages in the
school garden during the rescue operation in the town of Beslan, North
Ossetia 03 September 2004. (AFP/NTV)
After 3pm evacuation from other parts of the school was still
ongoing amid a continuing gunfight. Mobile medical units were
deployed in the area to immediately help the wounded before
taking them to hospitals in Beslan and Vladikavkaz.
This
TV-grab image taken from Russian channel NTV shows hostages in the
school garden during the rescue operation 03 September 2004 in the town
of Beslan, North Ossetia. (AFP/NTV)
Between 6 and 7pm, after it was established that there were no
more captives in the school building, troops used Shmel rocket
infantry flamethrowers against the militants. Two T-72 tanks were
also deployed in the nearby area. By 9:30pm the hostage-takers
were proclaimed eliminated and shortly before midnight the school
was under full control of security forces.
A
Russian special police soldier (L) carries an injured colleague as two
soldiers and two women take cover behind the APC during the rescue
operation of Beslan's school, northern Ossetia, 03 September 2004. (AFP
Photo/Yuri Tutov)
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Rescuers continued recovering the bodies of the victims from the
school debris.
Relatives who had not found their loved ones alive flocked to
hospitals and examined the long lists of injured placed on the
walls, hoping to find names among them.
Relatives
of terrorist act victims check the lists of injured at the hospital in
the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, 04 September 2004, after Russian
security forces gained control of the school where up to 1000 children
and adults had been held hostage by armed rebels. (AFP Photo)
Those who lost hope had to look among the dead bodies.
People
search for relatives among the bodies of dead hostages at a morgue in
the town of Vladikavkaz, September 4, 2004. (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)
President Putin arrived in Beslan in the early hours on Saturday
and visited one of hospitals.
Woman
reacts after finding her relatives among the dead bodies of Beslan
hostage crisis in the yard of the morgue in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia,
05 September 2004. (AFP Photo)
Sunday, September 5, 2004
The official death toll rose as some of the badly injured died.
Over 50 remained in critical condition.
The first funerals took place.
Fatima
Tetova, mother of killed hostages Irina,13 and Alina,12, cry during
their funeral in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia
near Chechnya , September 5, 2004. (Reuters)
North Ossetian Interior Minister, Major General Kazbek Dzantiyev,
announced his resignation. He said that “
as an officer and a
man” he had “
no right” to occupy his post after
what happened in Beslan.
Relatives
and neighbours of killed sisters hostages Irina,13 and Alina,12 Tetova
cry during their funeral in the town of Beslan in the province of North
Ossetia near Chechnya, September 5, 2004. (Reuters)
Monday, September 6, 2004
Mass funerals took place in Beslan. Two days of national mourning
began in Russia.
Relatives
of victims who died in the Beslan school hostage siege carry coffins
under the heavy rain at the cemetery in Beslan, North Ossetia, 06
September 2004. (AFP Photo/Viktor Drachev)
Relatives
of victims (no names given) of the Russian hostage siege mourn in
Beslan, North Ossetia, 07 September 2004. (AFP Photo/Viktor Drachev)
The aftermath of the Beslan hostage crisis
A decade on, the survivors of the tragedy still cannot forget
those terrible days they spent on the verge of death. Those who
lost their loved ones do not believe their psychological wounds
will ever heal. They keep coming to site of the attack – which
has since been turned into a memorial – and to the cemetery, the
City of Angels, one of the rare graveyards in North Ossetia where
both Christians and Muslims were laid to rest.
Ossetians
mourn around flowers and bottles of water at the gymnasium of the
destroyed school in Beslan, North Ossetia, 08 September 2004. (AFP
Photo/Victor Drachev)
“
There are no Muslims and Christians here. They are children.
They are innocent creature. And all people come [to the cemetery]
– Christians and Muslims…They come in tears and go in
tears,” Kaspolat Ramonov, the keeper at the City of Angels
told RT. His family was taken hostage in 2004. The wife and son
seriously injured and his eldest daughter was killed.
A
woman, who lost relatives in the Beslan hostage crisis, shouts at the
new premier of North Ossetia, Alan Boradzov (L) as demonstrators demand a
meeting with North Ossetian president Alexander Dzasokhov, during a
protest in Vladikavkaz, 11 September 2004. (AFP Photo)
Ossetians mourn at the destroyed school's gymnasium in Beslan 12 October 2004. (AFP Photo/Maxim Marmur)
New
school in Beslan, North Ossetia. It was built to replace the one
destroyed by terrorists in September 2004. Designed by Moscow
architects, the school has cutting-edge equipment, with a computer and a
sound-recording room, a swimming pool and a winter garden. (RIA
Novosti/Albina Olisaeva)
Candles
at the Beslan Memorial as part of the commemorative events in memory of
the September 1, 2004 terrorist attack in Beslan. (RIA Novosti/Anton
Podgaiko)
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