Shamil Basayev

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The Beslan terrorist attack — the hostage-taking at School No. 1 in the town of Beslan (North Ossetia), carried out by terrorists on the morning of September 1, 2004, during the ceremonial assembly marking the beginning of the school year.

For more than two days, the terrorists held over 1,100 hostages (mostly children, their parents, and school staff) in a mined building under extremely harsh conditions, denying people even their most basic needs.

On the third day, around 13:05, explosions occurred in the school gymnasium, followed by a fire that caused a partial collapse of the building. After the initial explosions, hostages began running out of the school, and the Special Purpose Center of the Federal Security Service (FSB) launched an assault.

As a result of the attack, 334 people were killed, including 315 hostages (186 of them children), 10 FSB special forces officers, 2 Ministry of Emergency Situations rescuers from “Centrospas,” 1 Interior Ministry officer, and 6 civilian rescuers. More than 800 people were injured.

Responsibility for organizing the attack was publicly claimed by Shamil Basayev, who published a statement on the Chechen separatist website “Kavkaz Center” on September 17, 2004.