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.

Russian soldiers fled as shooting broke out in the violence that ended the school siege and unprepared special forces were forced to borrow bullets from armed locals ,it was claimed today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin performed a U-turn today – apparently responding to wide public dismay over the bloody school siege – and agreed to the formation of a parliamentary investigative commission.

Security officials have identified six of the militants who seized a school in southern Russia as Chechens, drawing a strong connection to the rebels who have been fighting Russian forces for years.

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today visited the Russian Embassy in Dublin to sign the book of condolence for the victims of the Beslan tragedy.

In the terrifying video of the Russian school hostage siege, 10-year-old Georgy Farniyev sat near a bomb, his hands behind his head and his face a mask of misery.

Under different circumstances, 20-month-old Azamat Mukagov would be the envy of his siblings, lying in a bed strewn with toys: a soft pink seal, a red sports car, a rattle.

Russia’s foreign minister pointed an accusing finger at Britain today for exercising double standards by granting asylum to Chechen separatists.

The accordion Sima Alikova once played lies mute on a bed in her family’s living room, amid a pile of clothes, pictures, toys and even a toothbrush that she and her nine-year-old daughter, Irina, once used.

The president of North Ossetia, the Russian region where more than 350 people were killed after terrorists seized hostages in a school, has ordered his government to quit.

Pope John Paul has expressed outrage today over the killing of children in the Russian school hostage-taking, condemning “cruel fanaticism” and an “insane contempt” for their lives.

A high-ranking Russian military official has reaffirmed Russia’s right to strike preventively against terrorists in any part of the world.

Russia’s secret service has offered a near €8.8m reward for accurate information that could help “neutralise” Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov.

Shocking new footage, recorded possibly on the first day of the Beslan siege by the hostage-takers, shows terrorists dressed in military camouflage turning the crowded hall into something akin to a human booby-trap.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is to seek the extradition of a rebel Chechen who has been granted political asylum in Britain.

Waving flags and banners, tens of thousands of Russians demonstrated against terrorism today, massing outside the Kremlin in response to government calls for solidarity after a series of deadly attacks that have killed more than 400 people.

The Irish branch of the Red Cross has appealed for funds to help the victims of last week’s school siege in the Russian town of Beslan.

Primary school children in Ireland are due to take part in a worldwide minute’s silence at midday for the victims of last week’s bloody siege in the Russian town of Beslan.

Funeral processions filled the rainy streets of Beslan, carrying coffins large and small, as townspeople buried scores of victims of a carefully-planned school siege that prosecutors linked to a Chechen rebel leader.

A numb Russia observed the first of two days of national of mourning today for the hundreds of victims of the school siege while criticism mounted on the government over its handling of the situation.

Militants appear to have planned their seizure of a Russian school carefully, starting months earlier and sneaking weapons into the building in advance.

Nato called a special meeting with Russia for tomorrow to discuss the school siege that killed 335 people.

Hundreds of people have visited the Mansion House in Dublin to sign books of condolence for the victims of the Beslan school siege.

The respected editor of Russia’s Izvestia daily was forced to quit today in what he and media analysts linked to the paper’s critical coverage of the Russian authorities’ handling of the school siege.

A book of condolences will be opened at the Mansion House, Dawson Street at lunchtime today to allow people to register their sympathy for the victims of the school siege in Beslan.

A respected Russian editor was sacked today after his newspaper published pages of photos of wounded and dead children and other victims of the school hostage crisis.

A numb Russia observed a national day of mourning for the more than 350 victims of the terrorist school seizure today, while desperate families searched for the missing in grief-stricken Beslan and criticism of the government mounted.

Two days of national mourning in Russia begin today to commemorate more than 350 children and adults who died in the bloody school siege.

Funeral processions snaked through Beslan today as relatives buried the first victims of the Russian school siege, while frantic parents still searched for missing children two days after the crisis erupted into violence that left more than 350 people dead.

Families wracked with grief crowded into a freshly turned field next to the cemetery in Beslan today to bury loved ones killed in the school hostage seizure.

The first funerals for the victims of the Russian school siege will be held today as a shaken President Vladimir Putin vowed an “all-out war” against terrorism.

Wails of mourning echoed through the streets of Beslan today, and the region’s top police officer reportedly resigned in the wake of the school hostage taking that left more than 350 people dead.

About 700 people attended a prayer service in Galway this afternoon for the victims of the Beslan tragedy and their families.

International police organisation Interpol today offered Russia its help to determine whether militants who seized a school there were linked to international terrorists.

The ITAR-Tass news agency has quoted Russian Deputy Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying 322 bodies, including those of 155 children, had been recovered from the school in Beslan.

Muslims worldwide are the main perpetrators of terrorism, a humiliating and painful truth that must be acknowledged, a prominent Arab writer said today, as Middle East media and officials registered their horror at the bloody rebel siege of a Russian school.

Emergency workers were today continuing the horrifying task of clearing the bodies of children and adults from the devastated scene of Russia’s bloody school siege, as the official death toll reached 250.

It has been reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin has arrived at the scene of the recent atrocities in Beslan.

Russian security officials accused Shamil Basayev of planning the seizure of the school with al-Qaida financing, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported today.

Officials at the Russian school crisis headquarters said that in the past hour two militants have been killed.

Holding up the corpse of a man just shot dead in front of hundreds of hostages at a Russian school, the rebel – his pockets stuffed with ammunition and grenades – warned: “If a child utters even a sound, we’ll kill another one.”

Unspecified security sources have claimed that the Russian school siege was financed by al-Qaida and masterminded by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

The Russian school crisis coordination centre has said that Russian troops are still searching for four hostage-takers,

World leaders expressed horror at the bloody climax of Russia’s hostage crisis today, saying the barbaric attack on school children showed terrorists have sunk to new lows.