Beslan is an industrial town of 30,000 that is located in North Ossetia in southern Russia, just west of the border of the separatist region of Chechnya. On the morning of Wednesday September 1, 2004, just after the conclusion of a ceremony marking the start of the new academic year, tens of terrorists wearing explosive belts stormed School Number 1 in Beslan, taking some 1,200 parents, students, children and even infants hostage after a deadly shootout. The attackers, Muslim separatists who included Arab mercenaries, held their captives in the school gymnasium and demanded a Russian withdrawal of troops from Chechnya. They wired the room with explosives and threatened to blow up the school if the Russian government attempted to retake it. It is believed that these explosives may have been smuggled into the school in advance, possibly by separatists working as construction workers.

During the three-day standoff that ensued, the world held its breath, watching and waiting as the captors refused to allow food and water into the school. While some of the youngest captives were released, hundreds of terrified children lay in the gym, stripped down to their underwear to survive the stifling heat, and no one knew quite how many captives had been taken altogether. On Friday, September 3, 2004, while a cease-fire was in place, Russian forces tried to collect corpses from the initial raid outside the school. Suddenly, a wave of explosions was triggered by the militants in the school, possibly by accident. During the ensuing pandemonium, hostages fled while their captors shot at them and at rescue workers at the scene. Although they had not planned to storm the school, the Russian troops returned fire. At the end of the tragic siege, it emerged that at least 326 people -- 156 of them children -- had been killed, and over 700 had been wounded. Most of the victims died when a bomb in the gymnasium exploded and the roof collapsed; others were shot in the back while attempting to flee. During the final shoot-out with the Russian authorities, 26 of the hostage-takers were killed. Several, however, are believed to have escaped.

Last updated: August 29, 2005.

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