Russians thwart Beslan-type terror attack at school

The head of a volatile region in southern Russia said authorities had prevented a terror attack against a school, the Interfax news agency reported today.

“The terrorists were planning a school siege similar to the Beslan hostage crisis,” Interfax quoted Mustafa Batdiyev, the president of the Karachayevo-Cherkessiya republic, as saying.

It said the region’s top police official, Nikolai Osyak, said some 150 Islamic extremists had been found in Karachayevo-Cherkessiya.