Basayev directed school attack - minister

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.

“I know for certain, that Shamil Basayev directly managed this operation,” Mr Lavrov said, according to his ministry’s script from an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Other Russian officials had said evidence linked Basayev to the attack in a school in a region neighbouring Chechnya, but Mr Lavrov’s statement was the clearest accusation against the prominent rebel leader.

He also said that Russian officials’ statements that there were Arabs among the attackers had been confirmed. So far, officials have not provided evidence publicly to support claims that about 10 of the hostage-takers were Arabs.

“The information that there were Arabs has been confirmed, as has been information that there were representatives of other nationalities, among them, as I understand, Russians, a Ukrainian, Chechens, Ingush,” he said.