‘Conscript soldiers fled from school siege’

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 local people, it was claimed yesterday.

As Beslan buried more victims a week after the siege ended, questions lingered over authorities' handling of the three-day stand-off that left at least 330 hostages dead.

"One of the most painful questions that that whole world is asking why all the events surrounding the Beslan school Number One looked so out of control... probably has an answer: Because nobody was in charge of the operation," the Russian daily Russkiy Kuryer said in an editorial today.