Beslan Massacre Five Years Later

There are times when evil is so omnipresent that it hits you in the gut the moment you see it. 9/11 was one such time. Another was the Beslan school massacre, where 334* people were murdered by Chechen Islamist terrorists. They captured an entire school in Beslan on its opening day in 2004, holding more than 1,200 people against their will in the process. A three-day standoff ensued, and on the third day, a running gun battle began between Russian forces and the terrorists.

The terrorists had brought many of the children and adults accompanying them on their first day of school into the gymnasium, which was rigged with explosives. The terrorists themselves were rigged with explosives and suicide vests.

The terrorists then detonated the explosives in the gym, and within moments, hundreds of people were dead. 187 children were murdered by the group, led by unrepentant terrorist, the Butcher of Beslan, Shamil Basayev.

He would meet his end in July 2006, when Russian forces killed him in a raid. Basayev would have been eliminated much sooner had ABC News provided the Russians with details of their earlier meeting with the terrorist.

Others remembering the massacre include Michelle Malkin.

*wiki says that 334 people were murdered in the Beslan School #1 massacre, although the numbers vary according to sources. At least 10 Russian special forces were killed in the operation as well. Nearly 800 people were injured in the attack. It was one of the largest terrorist attacks in history, and the scope of the attacks showed that terrorists will continue targeting anyone and everyone in their paths - and that no where is safe.

Taliban Assault School; 400+ Students Held Hostage

Shades of Beslan.

Suspected militants armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons abducted some 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boy's school in a troubled tribal region in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police and a witness said.

The brazen abduction came amid rising militant violence in Pakistan's tribal belt — actions the military says are aimed at distracting it from its offensive against the Taliban in the nearby Swat Valley.

Details were still emerging Monday about the nature of the attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Police official Meer Sardar said the abduction occurred about 20 miles from Razmak Cadet College in North Waziristan tribal area. The people were leaving the school area after they were warned to get out in a phone call from a man they believed to be a political official, Sardar said, citing accounts from a group of 17 who managed to get away.

Around 30 buses, cars and other vehicles were carrying the students, staff and others when they were stopped along the road by a large group of alleged militants in their own vehicles.

The details were confirmed by a staff member at the school who was among those who escaped. He requested anonymity out of fear of Taliban reprisal but said the school's principal was among those abducted. His vehicle happened to be behind a truck on the road, and it was less visible, so the driver slipped away.

So far, there's no word on what the terrorists hope to accomplish from this mass abduction, but none of it can be good. This comes as the Pakistani military continues going after Taliban groups in the frontier provinces and claims that they've beaten back the Taliban in some areas.

Beslan Revisited

Could the Beslan massacre have been completely avoided? A new video seems to suggest that the Russian security forces contributed to the carnage.

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.

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.

Videos shot the day of the end of the siege (and the first one may be one of the segments noted in the article):



This video shows the effects of the siege and storming of the school by security forces:

Remembering Beslan Two Years Later

Michelle Malkin does. Today is the two-year anniversary of the Beslan school massacre, in which more than 330 Russian men, women, and children were murdered by terrorists. Those Islamic terrorists infiltrated a school in Beslan, took nearly 1,200 people hostage, and engaged in a three day standoff with Russian security forces. On that fateful third day, shooting broke out between the terrorists and security forces, and the terrorists proceeded to blow up the explosives that they had rigged throughout the school.

This is what I wrote one year ago. It's still relevant today.

Do not forget what they did. Do not forgive the terrorists for what they did either.

And remember, those victims could just have easily been you, or your loved ones.

Never forget.

UPDATE:
Others blogging: Hot Air, The Wide Awake Cafe, Euphoric Reality, The Jawa Report, Murdoc Online,

Disgraceful

The Washington Post should be absolutely ashamed of its editorial/op-ed page today.

As Don Surber points out, the WaPo editorial staff decides to honor the cause of the Butcher of Beslan, Shamil Basayev.

Like all terrorists, Shamil Basayev had his grievances, and in that he was aided by Russia's inglorious history of atrocities, murders, rapes, ethnic cleansing and officially sanctioned mayhem in largely Muslim Chechnya. Like Osama bin Laden, he nurtured a personality cult fed by his messianic ruthlessness, his uncanny knack for evading capture and his self-proclaimed role as an avenger of a people with a deep sense of historical oppression. And like Osama bin Laden, he seemed to relish playing the part of Public Enemy No. 1 in a country scarred and brutalized by terrorism. If his ambitions were less vainglorious than Osama bin Laden's -- Shamil Basayev's beef was with Russia, not the West writ large, and his rather more narrow cause was independence for Chechnya -- he was just as fanatically addicted to killing.

Yes, that's right, he was an idealistic guy who went too far by killing more than 1,500 people, including hundreds of kids in Beslan School No. 1. Blowing up buses, planes, buildings, hospitals, government buildings, schools, and taking hundreds more hostage in a Moscow theater isn't the sign of having a cause. It's a sign of being a mass-murdering cold-blooded killer.

But if that editorial didn't turn your stomach, this one should. The WaPo gives the leader of the terrorist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh an open forum to rail about Israel's right to defend itself from the terrorist attacks perpetrated largely by Hamas - including the invasion of Israel through a 300 foot long tunnel, attacked an Israeli post, killing two soldiers and capturing Gilad Shalit in the process. All the while, Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorists seek to kill more Israelis via kassam rocket attacks, plan suicide bombing missions, car bombs, and other attacks against Israel.

Haniyeh wants to blame the US for this mess - by providing Israel with the tools for Israel's defense of its national security from the terrorists who operate out of Gaza - where Hamas dominates the political landscape, such as it is.

And the Washington Post believes that they should publish such propaganda? Would they carry an opus by Osama bin Laden in the same way? I wonder.

UPDATE:
Others noting the terrorist agitprop published by today's Washington Post: Carl in Jerusalem, LGF, Ed Morrissey, Blue Crab Boulevard, and Powerline. Again, it's curious that the Left doesn't seem to have a problem with the media publishing terrorist revisionist histories. Where is the outrage over having a known terrorist getting their work published in a major newspaper?

Basayev the Butcher Killed In Russian Raid

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, the purported author of modern Russia's worst terrorist attacks, has been killed, the head of the Federal Security Service said Monday. FSB head Nikolai Patrushev told President Vladimir Putin that Basayev had been killed overnight in Ingushetia, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Basayev is believed to be the mastermind of the Beslan school massacre that resulted in more than 330 killed - mostly women and children.

More detail on the operation to eliminate this terrorist can be found here.

UPDATE:
For a list of terrorist attacks claimed by Basayev, see here. His followers engaged in numerous mass casualty attacks against a wide range of targets, from schools to hospitals. Some details are emerging about how he died.

Patrushev gave no details of the operation in his televised remarks, but an Ingush regional Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Basayev had been killed while accompanying a truck filled with 220 pounds of dynamite that blew up in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo early Monday.

Basayev was among four militants killed in the blast, which authorities earlier said had occurred inadvertently during a special police operation against rebels preparing an attack later Monday.

The Interfax news agency quoted Ingush Deputy Prime Minister Bashir Aushev as offering the same version of events and saying Basayev had been in a car accompanying the truck. He said Basayev's body had been identified "through some of the fragments, including his head," Interfax reported.

The message sent by the Russians to other terrorists: You can run, but you can't hide. That goes especially for the terrorists who murdered the four Russian diplomats in Iraq in most gruesome fashion.

UPDATE:
Rob Port, who also notes that Basayev could have had his meeting with the devil much sooner had ABC News provided the Russian authorities with details of his location when they interviewed him for a news report.

Others noting Basayev's elimination and date with the devil: Hot Air, Meryl Yourish, Blue Crab Boulevard, Charles at LGF, and The Moderate Voice.

UPDATE:
I don't think I can fully explain what eliminating Basayev does for the Russians. He has been a thorn in the side of Putin for years - and there are more than a 1,000 dead Russians as a result of his terrorist attacks. It's a huge victory for Putin.

The Agonist wonders whether it will really matter.


Others blogging Basayev's trip to the ninth plane of hell: Emperor Darth Misha, Assorted Babble, Security Watchtower, Pajamas Media, Gina Cobb, Western Resistance, Joseph Alex,

It's Only Life

A hostage taker involved in one of the bloodiest hostage sieges, the Beslan School massacre that resulted in over 330* people murdered (over 180 children), received a sentence of life in prison.

A Russian court sentenced the only surviving Beslan hostage-taker to life in prison on Friday for his part in the bloody 2004 school siege that killed 331 people.

Nurpashi Kulayev, a Chechen carpenter born in 1980, was found guilty on all charges, which included terrorism and murder. He had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors had requested the death penalty for Kulayev, but Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov said a current moratorium on capital punishment ruled that out.

*Wikipedia claims that 344 civilians were killed in the siege.

Sole Surviving Beslan Terrorist Found Guilty

The sole surviving Islamic terrorist who assaulted Beslan School Number Three and took hundreds of men, women, and children hostage on the first day of the new school year (September 1, 2004) - and murdered 331* of them in a bloody end to the siege was found guilty of his criminal acts.

However, the article makes no mention of his Islamic ties, or that of the Chechen terrorist group that perpetrated the attack.

"The court has established that Kulayev took part in an armed attack and a hostage-taking..., that he committed murder against defenceless people," said Tamerlan Aguzarov, chief justice of the high court in the province of North Ossetia Tuesday.

"He committed an act of terrorism with the aim of influencing the decisions of the authorities," the judge told the court.

The prosecutor has asked for the death penalty for Kulayev, who had pleaded not guilty, although Russia has declared a moratorium on capital punishment.

Court officials said the reading of the entire verdict would take several days.

Kulayev is the only survivor among the 32 Chechens who stormed the packed school in Beslan in September 2004 and held children, teachers, parents and relatives hostage there for three days.

The siege came to a tragic end in a bloody gunbattle with rescue forces, in which 331 people died, 186 of them children.

The group that attacked School Number One in the North Ossetian town of Beslan was demanding the removal of Russian troops from Chechnya. Moscow's troops have been entrenched for the past decade in a war against Chechen separatists that takes lives every week.

It wasn't just a gunbattle, but the terrorists had rigged the school with explosives that would be set off if rescuers tried to enter the buildings. The place became a deathtrap.

*Wikipedia claims that 344 civilians were killed in the siege.

HT: LGF

Three Days In September

While attention is properly focused on the premiere and general release of the movie United 93, the Tribeca Film Festival is also hosting the premiere of another movie that exists because of the utter inhumanity perpetrated by Islamic terrorists.

Three Days in September recounts the Beslan school massacre. More than 1,200 men, women, and children were taken hostage, and more than 336 were murdered by the terrorists who rigged explosives throughout the building where they were being kept.

"Three Days in September" chronicles the subsequent 54 horrific hours, through the eyes of survivors and their families, soldiers and politicians. The documentary uses news clips as well as interviews with survivors and their relatives who stood outside the school building.

The film also includes footage taken by the terrorists with the handheld camera confiscated from a parent. That film was found in the rubble days after the tragedy.

The documentary opens today at the Tribeca Film Festival and will continue on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. It will air on Showtime late this month.

Vele, 43, who has worked in television journalism for two decades, including at CNN and CBS, hopes the film will give Americans pause to consider events on other continents.

"I think we have to be students of the world to better understand our surroundings," he said. "It will help our country in dealing with international situations."

However, this review suggests that while you get the general gist of the terrorist attack at Beslan School Number One, if the moviemakers spent just a little more time delving into the politics and fallout, the movie could have been far more impressive and insightful.

Beslan Massacre: One Year Later

Today is the one-year anniversary of the Beslan school massacre, in which more than 330 Russian men, women, and children were murdered by terrorists. ABC has interviewed the terrorist leader, Basayev, and the Russian government promptly told ABC where they could stick their media requests in the future. Basayev is rightfully called the Butcher of Beslan for his murderous intent - he slaughtered 187 children, along with their parents, teachers, and some of their rescuers.

So kudos to the Russian government to tell ABC where to stick it. They are aiding and abetting a known mass murderer by giving him facetime. Perhaps ABC should have done the decent thing and called the Russians to tell them where to find Basayev.

Do not forget what they did. Do not forgive the terrorists for what they did either.

And remember, those victims could just have easily been you, or your loved ones.

On August 8, 2005, the 331st official victim of the terrorist attack died of her wounds. Also, the new school, meant to replace the one destroyed in the terrorist attack, had been ransacked by vandals.

Beslan's children recall their terrifying ordeal. Meanwhile, the butcher of Beslan would like to blame Russia for the slaughter.

In the statement on the KavkazCenter Web site, Shamil Basayev said a Russian double agent had been among the hostage-takers. He also claimed that a second attacker had survived the three-day siege and was now with Basayev's men and prepared to testify.

Russian prosecutors, however, say all but one of the 32 attackers were killed; the sole survivor is on trial.

The authenticity of Basayev's statement could not be confirmed independently. However, the KavkazCenter site is considered a mouthpiece for his faction and he has never disavowed previous statements that have appeared there under his name.

One of the best sources on the Beslan massacre can be found at Stan's Logic and Sanity. His archives contain lots of information translated from Russian.

Beslan School Massacre Terrorist Goes On Trial

The only known surviving terrorist involved directly in the Beslan school massacre is going on trial starting today.

At least 337 people, at least half of whom were children, were killed when the terrorists took over the school.

I have more background on the massacre at Suite101.com.