Beslan school siege ‘could have been prevented by local police’

THE head of a Russian parliamentary commission investigating the Beslan school siege that left 331 dead last year said that local law enforcement officials could have prevented the terrorist attack if they had not ignored instructions to strengthen school security.

Alexander Torshin said that Russia’s interior minister and his deputy sent telegrams less than two weeks before the raid, instructing regional police to beef up security.

“That could have prevented the terrorist attack,” Torshin said.

Instead, one policewoman was posted outside the school on the day of the siege. She was taken hostage, he said.

Torshin said local authorities had underreported the number of hostages during the early stages of the crisis. Survivors said the misinformation infuriated the hostage-takers, who were demanding Russian troops withdraw from Chechnya.

The Islamic fighters seized 1,128 pupils, teachers and parents on September 1, provoking a three-day stand-off ending in a raid, gunfire and explosions. The dead included 186 children.

Officials said on the first two days of the crisis 354 people were taken hostage.

Torshin said the decision to report the lower number was made by the local head of the Federal Security Service, Valery Andreyev.

Torshin blamed him for poor coordination between law enforcement authorities.

“The counter-terrorist operation was plagued by shortcomings,” he said.

“Many law enforcement officers did not know how to act in an emergency situation.”

Torshin’s preliminary report was the third official account of the events in Beslan. It was not expected to criticise high-ranking officials but did conflict with a preliminary report by federal prosecutors on Monday that exonerated security forces.

Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel said in that statement his probe so far had not revealed any mistakes by authorities.

The rebels crossed heavily policed territory to reach Beslan, and victims’ relatives believe they got help from corrupt officials. They also criticised the rescue operation, saying hostages died needlessly because special forces used grenade launchers and tanks.

“You need to punish those who did not carry out their duties properly. Our children are no longer with us,” Susanna Dudiyeva, head of the Beslan Mothers’ Committee, said.

“The most painful questions are left unanswered.”

President Vladimir Putin ordered the prosecutor’s report.

Liberal lawmaker Vladimir Ryzhkov criticised Torshin for not focusing attention on high-ranking federal authorities in Tuesday’s report. Torshin said his investigators would evaluate those authorities’ roles.

Five senior policemen have been charged with criminal negligence for failing to stop the militants on roads leading to the school. Sole surviving hostage-taker Nur-Pashi Kulayev is on trial on murder and terrorism charges.