Chechen warlord Basayev admits to Beslan bloodshed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-17 14:08

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the Beslan school siege in which more than 320 hostages were killed, half of them children, according to a Chechen rebel Web site.

In the statement on Friday, Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, said brigades of the group Riyadus-Salikhin which he heads carried out the Beslan attack as well as bomb attacks that downed two passenger planes and attacks in Moscow, the Web site www.kavkazcenter.com said.

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, shown in this file photo, in a statement has claimed responsibility for the Beslan school siege in which more than 320 hostages were killed, half of them children, according to a Chechen rebel Web site.[Reuters]

"The operation...in the town of Beslan (was carried out by) the second battalion of martyrs under the command of Colonel Orstkhoyev," said the statement, signed by Basayev under his war name of Abdallah Shamil.

Basayev has been fighting Russian forces for most of the last 13 years and has been behind many of the sensational rebel operations carried out by Chechens against Russian targets.

The Kremlin put up a bounty of US$10 million (5.64 million pounds) for him and Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov in the aftermath of Beslan.

In the statement, Basayev blamed President Vladimir Putin for the tragedy which he said had been brought about by Russian special forces storming the school after two days on September 3 in an operation that had been planned from the beginning.

He said the group, who held more than 1,100 people hostage inside the school, had been demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and, in the absence of this, the resignation of Putin.

Basayev said the group had told intermediaries who came to the school that the hostages would be given food and water and the youngest children released if the Russian side began to meet their demands.

Putin has ordered a security clampdown throughout the Caucasus region in the aftermath of the Beslan tragedy, but has steadfastly refused to negotiate over Chechen independence with rebel leaders who he says are part of a "terrorist internationale".

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
'Garden of gardens' to undergo revamping         English web platform launched         Most US companies making profits in China         Hurricane Ivan slams Gulf coast; 20 dead         Fixed investment rises 30.3%         China rejects US religion report	US attacks kill many in Iraq       Hurricane Ivan slams Gulf coast; 20 dead       US weapons inspector: Iraq had no WMD       Russian Duma to launch new school massacre probe       Putin rules out Chechen talks       EU gendarmerie force operational in 2005