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Children as pawns

No. 8. Chechnya

The roots of the terrorist attack on a Russian school in September go way back, to the early 19th century. That's how long Chechens have resisted Russian rule. It took the czarist army 42 years to subdue Chechnya and attach it to the expanding Russian empire in 1859.

The little country the size of New Jersey declared its independence from Russia more than a decade ago. Former President Boris Yeltsin answered by sending in troops; the more numerous Russian forces were defeated and withdrew in 1996, and both sides have been attacking since.

Russian security operations quietly take Chechen men. The Chechens do not believe in quiet; they stage spectacular operations, including the one Sept. 1 at a school in the North Ossetia province of southern Russia.

On the first day of classes, masked militants took more than 1,200 hostages at School No. 1 in Beslan. The gunmen, most of Chechen descent, herded everyone into the center of a small gym. The floor was peppered with mines and bombs connected by cables; bombs were taped to the walls and suspended from the ceiling. Children were placed along the windows as human shields.

The militants did not allow any food to be delivered. Temperatures soared. Hostages fainted; some drank urine to stave off dehydration.

The morning of the third day, the terrorists agreed to let emergency workers bring out about 15 dead hostages. It's not clear what happened next, but minutes later explosions started.

Apparently one of the bombs taped around the gym fell and exploded. The roof caved in, hostages fled and the terrorists opened fire; the troops outside fired back.

Russian security forces say 30 militants were killed at the school; some escaped. Hundreds of bodies were found in the debris of the gym. The death toll: at least 339 killed, more than half of them children.

Georgi Kozarev, 34, said he was in a mob that lynched one of the terrorists: "How does one understand this? How do you forgive it?"

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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