Step-by-step - How the Beslan siege unfolded
Submitted by Templar Titan on Wed, 09/08/2004 - 20:06.
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Step-by-step BBC News Standoff The attackers had stormed into the school on Wednesday, forcing everyone into the gym. Contact with the hostage-takers is resumed on Friday morning (0330 GMT). So far they have refused to allow food supplies into the school, which is surrounded by special forces. At about 0850 they agree to let emergency workers into the school to retrieve bodies of dead hostages. |
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Conditions inside
They are forced into the centre - around them the floor is peppered with mines and bombs connected by cables. Bombs are taped to the walls and suspended from the ceiling. Two larger devices have been placed in the basketball hoops. Periodically the attackers fire their guns to terrify the hostages and place children along the windows to act as human shields. As the temperature inside soars, many hostages begin to faint. They strip in an effort to stay cool and drink urine to try to stave off dehydration. Investigators believe the weapons could have been hidden in the gym weeks before the attack. |
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Flashpoint
Minutes later, explosions and gunfire are heard and, at about 0915, a group of hostages of different ages manages to escape. The order of events is still unclear. But eyewitnesses have said that one of the many bombs stuck with tape around the gym fell and exploded. This was reportedly followed by a second large explosion, after which the roof caved in and hostages started to run. The attackers fired at them as they fled, prompting the troops outside to shoot back. |
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Troops move in
Russian President Vladimir Putin later says the decision to go in was unplanned and taken after the attackers started shooting at children. At 1005 GMT, Russian commanders report that their troops are nearly in full command of the building, but the gunfire continues. At 1040, three armoured personnel carriers with troops approach the school. New blasts are heard as commandos blow holes in walls to allow hostages to escape. At around 1200, sappers begin demining the school buildings and grounds |
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Hostages escape
Those who are not seriously hurt are desperate for water. They are first treated at a field hospital set up nearby. Military and civilian ambulances, as well as civilian cars commandeered by soldiers, are used to take the injured to different hospitals. Later, hundreds of bodies, many of them children, are found in the debris of the school gym.
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Siege ends
In the confusion that follows the storming of the school, a group of attackers manages to flee, apparently by mixing in with hostages and relatives flooding the area. Some of the attackers reportedly head south and take refuge in a nearby house where they are surrounded by special forces and later killed. Three others apparently flee to the school basement from where they continue to fire at the troops until they are captured alive on Friday evening. On Saturday, Russian security forces say 27 militants were killed at the school. But there are still contradictory reports as to whether any of those who escaped are still on the run.
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Aftermath
Emergency workers, sifting through the debris of the burnt out gymnasium, uncovered the remains of some of the hundreds of children and adults killed. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. At least 326 people are known to have died, but that number could rise. The identification problems, combined with the fact that injured victims were ferried to hospitals as far a field as Moscow, means that even 72 hours later hundreds of people do not know if their children and relatives are alive or dead.
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