Beslan Hostage-Taker Blames Russian Forces for School Bloodbath

MosNews | June 1 2005

FLASHBACK: Russian School Siege Bears Hallmarks of Potential Staged Psy-Op

The explosions that sparked the bloody end to the September 2004 school hostage-taking in Beslan were set off when sharpshooters killed two militants holding triggers to homemade bombs, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the only surviving Beslan hostage-taker, tried for the massacre on Tuesday, testified.

The Itar-Tass news agency quoted Nur-Pashi Kulayev as saying that the leader of the 32 heavily armed militants — whom he called Polkovnik (Colonel) — entered the packed gymnasium where more than 1,100 hostages were held after the bombs detonated and smashed his cell phone.

According to Kulayev, Polkovnik said: “They won’t take pity on anyone; we fight to the last cartridge”.

The testimony of the only surviving participant of the seizure provides potentially new insights into the Sept. 1-3 raid on Beslan’s School No. 1 — the precise details of which remained murky more than eight months after the seizure.

ITAR-Tass said Kulayev told the court of some of the arguments that erupted among the hostage-takers. Some apparently objected to taking children hostage, and several wanted instead to seize the nearby police station, he reportedly testified.

“The children and women were captured and forced into the school building. Then the militants started shouting: ’The police station is nearby, let’s seize it, why seize the school?’” ITAR-Tass quoted Kulayev as saying.

Two of the militants were female suicide-bombers who openly disagreed with the terrorist group’s leader about holding children hostage and were killed when he detonated their bombs by remote control, Kulayev testified, according to the agency.

At the same time North Ossetia’s president, Alexander Dzasokhov, who was accused of turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption that allegedly allowed the attackers to seize the school with ease by Beslan survivors and victims’ relatives, announced his resignation on Tuesday. He did not give any reason for his decision. However, the Russian daily Kommersant reported Wednesday that it was caused by Dzasokhov’s refusal to cooperate with President Putin’s envoy to the region.