| The militants began to fight with children Chechen militants yesterday celebrated the beginning of the new school year in the country with another large-scale and, from a moral point of view, perhaps the most monstrous action since the existence of the “North Caucasus problem.” At about 9.00 in North Ossetia, a small but well-armed and equipped detachment of terrorists seized the building of school No. 1 in the city of Beslan. The attack occurred at a time when all of its students, their parents and teachers had gathered in the school yard before the start of the ceremonial assembly. As a result, according to preliminary data, the bandits took hostage 132 children from school No. 1 alone. How many people the terrorists held in total - including teachers, parents and even infants (some accompanied their babies to school with the whole family) - it was not really clear until yesterday evening. Different departments gave figures from 130 to 300. All that was known was that the terrorists immediately - as in Budennovsk, Pervomaisky and in Moscow at the Nord-Ost musical - mined the building, and in the event of an assault they promised to blow it up. It is also reliably known that in the first minutes after the seizure of the school in Beslan, at least two people were killed and 11 were wounded as a result of spontaneous shootouts that broke out between terrorists and local police officers. One of the dead, according to preliminary data, is a terrorist, all the other victims are local residents who accidentally fell under bullets.
The tragedy in Beslan, without a doubt, became an unprecedented emergency in every sense. Over the past 10 years, Chechen terrorists have carried out raids and seizures of civilian objects on the territory of peaceful regions and Moscow itself more than once, and even with a large number of hostages. However, it has never been about children, and it is precisely this circumstance in this case that ties the hands of the intelligence services and federal authorities - both in terms of carrying out forceful countermeasures and simply when negotiating with bandits. As a result, the events in Beslan, just a few hours after they began, became the center of attention of world politics and became the main and only concern of the entire Russian leadership for many days to come.
Vladimir Putin was informed about the tragedy in North Ossetia within half an hour - at the beginning of nine. At that moment, he was on board his ship heading to Karachay-Cherkessia for the opening ceremony of a new school there. The President immediately canceled all his previous plans and decided to return to Moscow. The plane landed at the Mineralnye Vody airport and, after refueling, immediately flew to the capital. At the same time, the president, judging by the message from his press service, immediately began consultations with the heads of the special services and spoke by telephone with the President of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov, who was already in Beslan. After getting off the plane, right at Vnukovo-2, Vladimir Putin held a meeting around noon with the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev, the head of the FSB Nikolai Patrushev, the Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov and the head of the border service Vladimir Pronichev. After discussing the situation, the president went to Moscow, and the security forces immediately went to North Ossetia to lead the operation to free the hostages. Moreover, by the time it appeared in Beslan, the situation was developing according to the saddest scenario. In a note thrown out of the school, the terrorists demanded that the Russian authorities withdraw troops from Chechnya and release all militants arrested on charges of attacking cities and villages in Ingushetia on June 22 of this year. They agreed to conduct “face-to-face” negotiations only with the heads of North Ossetia and Ingushetia. In the event of an assault, the bandits promised to shoot 50 children for each killed militant and 20 for each wounded.
Against the backdrop of such an almost apocalyptic situation, it is quite natural that employees of all security services, one way or another connected with countering terrorists and ensuring overall security in the country, were yesterday in a state of incessant work “fever”. At the same time, even the issue of a general assessment of the situation in the country has faded into the background. And in light of all the actions of the Chechen separatists over the past week, what is happening appears precisely as an unprecedented attack by terrorists literally “on all fronts.” Apparently, this offensive began on August 21, when a detachment of militants conducted a raid through the streets of Grozny, firing at the buildings of the police department, commandant's office and just police cars for 3 hours. On the evening of August 24, a bomb exploded at a public transport stop in Moscow on Kashirskoe Highway (at that time only 4 people were injured, which, as it turned out later, was a happy coincidence). After just 3 hours, two passenger airliners exploded in the sky over the Tula and Rostov regions. Both took off from Domodedovo Airport - which is directly connected to the Kashirskoye Highway. And on the evening of August 31, a female suicide bomber blew herself up near the Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow. It is quite obvious that the subsequent attack on a school in Beslan by a group of militants cannot be just a coincidence. Moreover, yesterday no one could guarantee that the capture of schoolchildren in the separatists’ plans was the final and “main” blow to Russia. All the terrorist attacks of recent days have come as an almost complete surprise to the special services, and, accordingly, one can only guess about the true intentions, capabilities and number of saboteurs.
It is noteworthy that, according to unofficial data from the special services, in recent days operatives in Chechnya have noted one characteristic fact. About a month ago, in different villages and cities of the republic, about 30 people disappeared from their places of permanent residence in an unknown direction, who were under secret (but not constant) surveillance due to suspicion of contacts with militants.
8.00 (approximately) - In the area of the village of Khurikau, on the border of the Mozdok and Pravoberezhny regions of North Ossetia, approximately 60 km from Beslan, armed people stopped the local district police officer, a police major, and put him in their car. According to preliminary data, it was with the help of the ID of an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the militants in a GAZ-66 and two cars freely passed several checkpoints on the way to Beslan.
9.00 During the ceremonial assembly on the occasion of September 1, they broke into the territory of school No. 1. In total, according to the education committee of the Beslan administration, 895 students and 59 teachers and technical staff of the school were present at the line. The number of parents who came to see their children off to school is unknown. Having opened indiscriminate fire in the air, the militants ordered everyone present to enter the school building, but the majority - mostly high school students and adults - were able to simply run away. Those who could not do this - primary school students and their parents and some teachers - were driven into the gym by the bandits. According to eyewitnesses, there were about 20 militants, including several women. Everyone is dressed in black, their faces are hidden under masks, almost everyone is holding machine guns and grenade launchers. Some allegedly wore “martyr belts.” In the very first minutes of the capture, city police officers began running to the school at the sound of gunfire. Three people were killed in a chaotic shootout. One body lay at the entrance to the building, the other two were on the roadway near the fence. All the dead are civilians. Throughout the day, the militants did not allow the bodies to be taken away, opening fire when people approached the school. Nine parents of students were also injured by stray bullets.
9.30 -- It became known that among the hostages were two sons of the Chairman of the North Ossetian Parliament, Taimuraz Mansurov. In addition, as the editors of the local newspaper “Life of the Right Bank” were told, Fatima Alikova, a journalist from this publication, was together with the schoolchildren, their parents and teachers. At about 9 o'clock in the morning the girl called her mother, the editor of the publication, and reported that there was a shooting at the school. After this the conversation ended. The city Education Committee reported that they could not contact one of the committee employees. According to her colleagues, the woman and her two children may be in the seized building.
9.43 - the first wounded began to arrive at the city hospital in the Right Bank district: 11 people - 6 in the traumatology department, 5 in the outpatient department. Of these, 2 were women and 9 were men, 1 person underwent surgery. All civilians.
9.30 - 9.45 - the police called all 18 schools in the city of Beslan, and all students were immediately sent home. In some schools, the celebrations on the occasion of September 1st did not even have time to begin.
10.00 - An operational headquarters has been created in the city administration building to resolve the situation with the seizure of the school. It was headed by the President of North Ossetia Alexander Dzasokhov. The school area is cordoned off. Units of internal troops, police, the Ministry of Defense, prosecutors, the FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the leadership of the republic began to gather at the building. The ambulances arrived. In Vladikavkaz, the hospital of the 58th Army has been completely vacated in case of mass arrival of wounded. By order of the Minister of Defense, the Scalpel flying mobile hospital was sent to Beslan.
10.00 -- According to the duty operational headquarters of the city police department, several adults appeared in the windows of the school on the second floor, hiding behind children. For 5-7 minutes, schoolchildren stood on the windowsills in view of the crowd gathered near the scene of the tragedy.
10.00 - Militants fired several shots at a police armored personnel carrier that was maneuvering near the school.
10.15 - 15 people who were hiding in the school boiler room managed to get out to safety.
11.00 - All residents were evacuated from nearby houses.
12.00 - Two members of the North Ossetian parliament stated that they were ready to become hostages themselves in exchange for the release of the children, but the militants rejected the offer.
12.30 - 13.00 - The militants made contact for the first time. They threw a note out of the school window, which contained a demand for the withdrawal of federal troops from Chechnya and the release of detained participants in the attack on Ingushetia on June 22. The text of the note stated that the terrorists were ready to negotiate only with the President of the Republic Alexander Dzasokhov, the head of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov and Doctor Leonid Roshal.
12.50 - Head of the Government of North Ossetia Mikhail Shatalov announced the start of negotiations with the militants. It was not specified who is authorized to negotiate.
13.00 - The closure of Vladikavkaz airport was announced.
13.40 - Shooting resumed. Three new explosions were heard from the school building. It is possible that the militants fired from the windows at the crowded civilians.
14.00 - 15.00 - Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Rashid Nurgaliev and head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev arrived in North Ossetia.
14.00 - The closure of all entries into North Ossetia from neighboring regions was announced.
14.20 - Mufti of North Ossetia Ruslan Valgatov and Prosecutor of the Pravoberezhny District Alan Batagov went to the school building for negotiations. The terrorists did not let them into the building, but the mufti remained at the entrance to the school and called on the militants in Russian, Arabic and Ossetian to release the hostages.
14.15 - An appeal from the North Ossetian Ministry of Internal Affairs to residents was read out on republican television asking them to remain calm and not travel to the area of the seized school.
14.30 - The operational headquarters reported that the policeman captured by the terrorists managed to escape, and he has already begun to testify.
15.35 - A representative of the security forces of Ingushetia reported that the action to seize the school was planned in Chechnya by Basayev and Maskhadov. Information has emerged that the terrorists who seized the building belong to the so-called “Ingush jamaat”, which collaborates with Basayev’s militants. According to security officials, the seizure of the school became possible thanks to the assistance of the Chechen and Ingush diasporas of North Ossetia.
16.00 - An explosion was recorded inside the school. Data on the number of hostages is still scattered. Based on lists compiled by relatives and parents of students, it was established that there could be 132 children in the school. In total, according to unconfirmed data, the militants managed to capture from 300 to 400 people.
16.15 - A residential building adjacent to the school caught fire from a tracer bullet fired by militants.
18.00 - The Ministry of Health of North Ossetia reported that as a result of the school siege, four people were killed and ten were injured.
18.20 - Single shots are heard from the direction of the school.
19.00 - The militants themselves got in touch using a mobile phone given to them earlier and demanded that food and water be given to them. This was announced by the head of the FSB Directorate of North Ossetia, Valery Andreev. The militants still insist on meeting with Dr. Roshal. The attitude towards children is “more or less tolerable.” Employees of the operational headquarters are trying to negotiate with the terrorists on the transfer of food, medicine and warm clothes for the hostages.
20.00 - Pediatrician Leonid Roshal arrived at the operational headquarters in Beslan. Negotiations began on the transfer of food.
20.15 - Representative of the administration of the President of North Ossetia Lev Dzugaev said that about 1,000 people, mostly relatives of the hostages, had gathered near the building of the seized school. According to new estimates, the number of hostages exceeded 250 people.
20.30 - Two of those killed during the seizure of the school were police officers who were guarding the building. This was announced by the head of the State Duma Security Committee, Vladimir Vasiliev. In total, four policemen were employed to guard the school, including one woman. The fate of the other two guards remains unknown.
21.15 - The militants refused to provide the hostages with water and food. However, as the head of the FSB directorate of the republic, Valery Andreev, emphasized, “the condition of the child hostages is satisfactory.” The exact number of hostages has not been established. In the House of Culture located next to the school, psychologists began working with relatives and parents of the hostages.
21.50 - The names and nationality of the terrorists are still not established. “We do not have specific data that the action was planned by Basayev and Maskhadov, but given the recent events in Russia, we can come to exactly this conclusion,” said Lev Dzugaev, spokesman for the North Ossetian presidential administration. “We continue to hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Negotiations continue, Doctor Roshal is trying to make contact with the militants,” he emphasized.
22.10 - The operational headquarters for the release of hostages opened a hotline. You can contact the headquarters with any questions using these numbers. Phone number 8-867-37-31-554.
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