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Posted on 09/09/2004 8:16:44 AM PDT by AdmSmith
Who were the hostage-takers?
The official version: According to the Kremlin, the terrorists were a mix of hardened mercenaries from the Arab world and the breakaway republic of Chechnya and the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia. Russian authorities said 10 of the hostagetakers were "Arab fighters", one of the men was from North Ossetia and that the rest were Ingush or Chechens.
Several shakidki, or female suicide bombers, known as "black widows", were reported to be inside. Islamist fighters from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan were also said to be involved.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the fighters were linked to al-Qaeda and international terrorism and they were helped by a shadowy third force who thought Russia - as one of the world's sole nuclear powers - was a threat. The group was allegedly financed by al-Qaeda with money from Saudi Arabia. Estimates of how many terrorists were involved varied, but the authorities initially insisted that only 17 to 20 took part.
The reality: The hostage-takers turned out to be more numerous than the authorities claimed and numbered at least 32. Hostages say they didn't see any Arabs and that the terrorists spoke Russian (albeit heavily accented) among themselves.
However, one of the captured fighters, who looked as if he had been "heavily interrogated", said the group was made up of Arabs, Uzbeks and other nationalities, contradicting the hostages' accounts.
Many of the hostage-takers appear to have taken part in rebel incursions into Ingushetia from Chechnya in June, which left up to 90 people dead.
Western intelligence sources say they are still checking information that some were from Syria or Jordan.
Russian government sources say the terrorists were led by four men codenamed Abdullah, Fantomas, the Colonel and Magas.
Abdullah is reported to be an Ossetian called Vladimir Khodoyev, who has fought with Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev in the past. Fantomas, variously described as Chechen or Russian, also apparently has close links to Basayev, having been one of his bodyguards.
The Colonel is reportedly Russian and is remembered by hostages as being a regular presence in School One's gym.
Earlier this year Magas emerged as the leader of a militant group called the Ingush Jamaat, which is closely allied to Basayev's guerrilla outfit.
Magas led the raids into Ingushetia in June. The authorities claim his real name is Ali Taziyev and that he is a former Ingush police officer who mysteriously disappeared in 1998.
Hostages also claim at least one of the terrorists was a "tall, powerfully built black man" and officials talk about one of the terrorists being from Qatar.
How many hostages?
The official version: Lev Dzugaev, spokesperson for North Ossetia's president, swore to journalists that exactly 354 hostages were in the school. He said the figures had been meticulously compiled based on information from waiting relatives.
The reality:
There were 1 181 hostages. They included children, their pre-school siblings, mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers, teachers, the school's administrative staff and people who lived in the building's immediate vicinity.
Russian media claim that the authorities, by down-playing the number of hostages, infuriated the terrorists.
The storming of the school
The official version: Moscow was forced to send in special forces after two explosions in the school and when the hostage-takers opened fire on the panicking children, shooting them in the back as they fled.
The shooting began after a bus from the Russian emergency situations ministry entered the school to collect the decomposing corpses of up to 20 people who had been murdered by the terrorists in the previous two days. The authorities insist they had not planned to storm the school.
The reality: A surveillance tape allegedly recorded by Russian special forces shows the terrorists arguing among themselves about whether to stay or flee minutes before the first explosion. The tape suggests the first bomb may have been detonated in a feud among the hostage-takers, with some wanting to go and others determined to fight to the death.
Some of the terrorists apparently thought it was wrong to take children hostage; they were killed by their comrades, according to some accounts.
Umar Sikoyev, a lawyer for a captured militant identified as Nur-Pashi Kulayev, claimed their leader did not tell them what their mission was and that he detonated the suicide belts of two women raiders by remote control in order to establish order among the hostage-takers.
Whatever the truth, it would seem that the Russians were preparing to storm the school anyway. Though North Ossetia's President Alexander Dzasokhov said he would not allow an assault to go ahead, he appears to have ordered intense preparations for just such a scenario. Military sources claim that negotiations were not taking place and that the authorities had no intention of fulfilling demands.
Although high-profile Russian MPs were on the scene, none of them tried to get into the school. Ruslan Aushev, a former president of Ingushetia, who did manage to get into the school and get 26 people out, was overheard saying that "the government has sold them all down the river".
Aushev claimed the terrorists were ready to negotiate on Friday, but that an explosion took place, prompting the hostages to flee and locals to open fire. According to one woman, one of the terrorists detonated a bomb in the gym by accident.
Aushev blames the locals for what happened next. "We asked the hostage-takers to stop the firing. We called them by cellphone. They said: 'We have stopped shooting, you are shooting'. We gave the command to stop the shooting. But a stupid 'third force' intervened. I do not know how they appeared there, we are investigating this.
"The fact is that some 'militia' with assault rifles decided to free the hostages themselves and they opened fire at that school."
Aushev alleges that the terrorists believed this to be an assault by Russian troops and detonated their explosives, bringing down the gym's roof. After that, the troops really did start the assault.
Who planned the siege?
The official version: The Russians claimed the siege was planned by an Ingush warlord with close links to Basayev, Russia's most wanted man. It was apparently funded by Arabs in the Middle East with close links to al-Qaeda.
The reality: Investigators say the terrorists were taking orders over the phone from Basayev and that the four men previously mentioned led the hostage-takers. The captured fighter appeared to back up this scenario. He said the terrorists were being controlled by Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, the rebel president of Chechnya.
"We gathered in the forest and the Colonel said we must seize the school in Beslan," said the man. "When we asked the Colonel why we must do it, he said, 'Because we need to start war in the entire territory of the North Caucasus'."
Whoever planned the seizure did so thoroughly, casing the school months in advance.
Terrorists masquerading as workmen smuggled large quantities of guns, explosives and ammunition into the building during summer maintenance work. Some of the weapons were concealed beneath the floorboards in the school library.
Does this explain Russia's new anti-terror relationship with Israel? If it's traced back to Syrian involvement, the wheels could come off quickly.
A South African newspaper? I wouldn't believe it without any outside confirmation... Don't forget who they root for!
I don't know if I believe that.
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Dark Irony PING.
If the Russians want to go into Syria or Jordan, I suggest, no I insist, we set up places to help them with logistics.
"terrorists were led by four men codenamed Abdullah, Fantomas, the Colonel and Magas"
They are all dead?
(Note: I'm not saying I think he was involved. Unlike you, I don't know who-all was involved.)
I have seen reports elsewhere that a number of Russian Special Forces were shot in the back accidentally by parents who were trying to free their children, that most of the Special Forces fatalities were caused by this.
Putin is said to be trying to keep a news blackout, and has forced the firing of one newspaper editor.
We still don't know everything about the Moscow Opera attack. Russia doesn't believe in a free press.
*YAWN*
LOL!
Bug repellant is a good thing.
On the BBC tape, you can clearly hear a man reciting a verse from the Quran in Arabic with a Saudi Arabian accent. You can also hear someone speaking Arabic with a Jordanian/Palestinian accent in the background. There are pretty obvious differences in the dialect. On the longer tape, which was on a jihadi site, you could also hear people speaking in other languages - a woman says something in a language that I don't recognize so it may be Chechen; a man yells at one of the kids what sounds to me like Russian but I don't know enough Russian to even be able to tell if it was a native speaker or if it was accented.
I thought they confirmed that there was at least one Korean too?
I think they did too - I was just pointing out what I could make out from the tape :) The bad guys were masked so I am basing completely on audio. One guy did appear to be black but I did not hear him speak on the tape. Wonder if there are any other tapes out there.
I trust your analysis. You have a very good ear.
I was just adding to the article above. I'm surprised the Korean is no longer listed.
Me either.
Very interesting, thank you.
Here's a link to a photo of the man who seemed to be black, though I can only make out his hand. Haven't heard any more about his origins.
WARNING: link to photo of a body
"Dead body of a hostage-taker, supposedly a black man. Filmed inside the school / Frame from the Rossia Channel"
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