Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed he managed the militant attacks in the southern Russian city of Nalchik that officials say left at least 139 people dead, according to a statement posted on a Chechen rebel-connected website.

Security forces today freed an unspecified number of police officers from a police station where they had been caught in a battle with Islamic extremists, while security forces stormed a store held by the last rebel holdouts in Nalchik, the regional president’s press service said.

Islamic militants attacked police and government buildings in one of the main cities of Russia’s turbulent Caucasus region today, sparking battles in which dozens of people died, officials said.

Militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings in one of the main cities in Russia’s turbulent Caucasus region today, sparking battles involving heavy-arms fire and explosions that forced the evacuation of schools and left bodies in the streets.

THOUSANDS of mourners carrying flowers filed into a gutted school gymnasium and then to a cemetery where rows of graves bore children’s names and pictures yesterday.

Thousands of mourners carrying flowers filed into a gutted school gymnasium and then to a cemetery where rows of graves bore children’s names and pictures today, commemorating the anniversary of the hostage tragedy that claimed 331 lives.

Mothers of victims of the Beslan school seizure, their grief mixed with fury a year after Russia’s deadliest hostage-taking raid, said today that the government had failed to learn from the tragedy and had left the country vulnerable to equally devastating terrorist attacks.

Radical Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev today claimed in an internet posting that Russian security services bore responsibility for last year’s bloody Beslan school siege by allegedly providing the attackers a safe corridor through the region in an attempt to trap them.

The Chechen rebel leader who organised last year’s deadly hostage-taking attack on a Russian school admitted he was a terrorist and warned that he was planning more attacks, possibly a similar atrocity.

A rebel-linked website said yesterday that Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for a power cut that plunged Moscow into chaos two days earlier.

A rebel-linked website said today that Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for a power outage that plunged Moscow into chaos two days earlier.

Russian authorities said today a Kuwaiti militant who was an al-Qaida emissary to Chechnya has been killed by security forces in a neighbouring region, the second statement in as many days linking foreigners to Chechen rebels.

Russian security services today killed a prominent Chechen rebel wanted for a series of planned chemical attacks, Russian news agencies reported, citing the top spokesman for Russian forces in Chechnya.

Russian security forces killed two women in a security operation in Chechnya and said the two had planned a suicide bombing, a top military official told a news agency today.

A truck carrying more than a ton of explosives was found near the Chechen capital, Grozny, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service said today, announcing that a major terrorist attack had been averted in the run-up to next week’s Victory in Europe holiday.

Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview published today that he and his security service had set the target of killing rebel warlord Shamil Basayev by May 9, the first anniversary of Kadyrov’s father’s assassination in a bombing at a Victory Day parade in the Chechen capital Grozny.

A court held preliminary hearings today in the trial of the only surviving suspected hostage-taker in last year’s school seizure in southern Russia.

Stepping up their hunt for their biggest enemy, Russia’s security services today offered to pay for plastic surgery for anyone who gives information leading to the killing or capture of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov’s killing represents a rare propaganda victory for President Vladimir Putin and his hard-line approach to battling separatists.

CHECHEN rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, blamed by Russia for last year's school hostage slaughter, has been killed during an army raid, Russian President Vladimir Putin was told yesterday.

Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed during a “special operation” by Russian forces, a spokesman said today.

Russian authorities have killed five people suspected of aiding September’s school hostage-taking in southern Russia and arrested four other suspects, prosecutors said today.

Representatives of a prominent Russian non-governmental organisation were on their way to London today for talks with a Chechen rebel envoy on ways to stop the war in Chechnya.

SHAMIL BASAYEV, the Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the deadly school hostage-taking in southern Russia, released a video statement yesterday to dispel rumours about his death and pledge respect for a rebel truce.

A Chechen rebel leader has told a Russian newspaper a unilateral ceasefire he had announced should help pave the way for peace talks with the Kremlin.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry lashed out at Britain’s Channel 4 television, which was scheduled to broadcast a videotaped interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev today.

Hundreds of Russian police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in a southern Russian city today, ending a two-day stand-off with a group of suspected Islamic extremists.

Russian authorities have detained two people on suspicion of being linked to terrorists who held more than 1,000 people hostage in a school in September.

A special forces soldier said terrorists who seized more than 1,000 hostages in a school two months ago were more numerous than the government claimed, a Russian newspaper reported today.

Some of the terrorists who seized more than 1,000 hostages in a school in Beslan last month were drug addicts, a senior prosecutor said today.

RESIDENTS of the grief-stricken Russian school siege town of Beslan marked the end of the 40-day mourning period for the hundreds of victims of the massacre yesterday.

Residents of the grief-stricken Russian school siege town marked the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period for the hundreds of victims of the massacre today.

Residents of the grief-stricken Russian school siege town marked the end of the formal 40 day mourning period for the hundreds of victims of the massacre today.

The final day of the traditional 40 day mourning period for the victims of the bloody Russian school siege in Beslan is tomorrow.

Russian security forces and police killed two militants and detained a third after the gunmen holed up in a house on the outskirts of the southern city of Nazran, police said today.

Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has denied being involved in the Russian school hostage-taking and said another rebel chief, Shamil Basayev, should stand trial for staging it.

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin said yesterday the Kremlin was preparing to take preventative action against terrorists, even as a Chechen rebel leader purportedly claimed responsibility for a series of attacks that killed hundreds of people and threatened further violence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned today that he is preparing to go on the offensive against terrorists.

Radical Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev purportedly took responsibility today for a recent series of deadly terrorist attacks in Russia, but put the ultimate blame for the massacre of more than 330 people held hostage in a school on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

CHECHEN envoy Akhmed Zakayev said yesterday he fears there will be further massacres in his homeland if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not hold peace talks with the region’s political parties.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev directed the hostage-taking raid on a school in southern Russia.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said today that Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev directed the hostage-taking raid on a school in southern Russia last week.

CHECHEN and Ingush militants who took part in last week’s deadly school siege in Russia were yesterday identified.

RUSSIA’s top general said yesterday he was ready to attack ‘terrorist bases’ anywhere in the world, as security services put an €8.5 million bounty on two Chechen rebels blamed for last week’s school siege.