A video that remained secret for nearly three years after the horrific Beslan hostage crisis has cast new doubt on official conclusions about what led to the deaths of 334 people, more than half of them children, during one of Russia's worst terrorist attacks.Videos shot the day of the end of the siege (and the first one may be one of the segments noted in the article):
The footage is far from definitive, but appears to lend credence to the theory that security forces bear at least some of the blame for the high death toll.
A central question about the carnage is what caused the initial explosions that were followed by a chaotic gunbattle, fire and the collapse of the roof of School No. 1's gymnasium, where more than 1,100 hostages had been held by militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
A final official report on the events of Sept. 1-3, 2004, has not been released. The lead parliamentary investigator has suggested homemade bombs rigged by the 32 heavily armed men and women in the gymnasium were detonated by the militants, and that was the primary reason for the high death toll.
However, victims and relatives of the dead, and at least one member of the parliamentary commission, maintain law enforcement agencies botched the rescue, using flame-throwers, grenade launchers and heavy guns that worsened the situation. Dozens of survivors insist the explosions that sparked the maelstrom came from outside the building.
Susanna Dudiyeva, who heads the Beslan Mothers' Committee and whose 13-year-old son died in the attack, accused Russia's primary security agency, the Federal Security Service or FSB, of withholding crucial evidence.
This video shows the effects of the siege and storming of the school by security forces:
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