International

Beslan Marks 2nd Anniversary of School Siege

By Gregory Feifer

Published September 1, 2006 at 1:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

Mourners visit the charred remains of the school gymnasium in Beslan, Russia, where Chechen rebels held more than 1,000 hostages for three days.

Two years ago, Russian Special Forces stormed a school in Beslan where Chechen separatists were holding about 1,200 people hostage. More than 300 people were killed -- nearly half of them children.

There has been controversy about who fired the first shots, and whether enough had been done to try to end the siege peacefully.

The most recent report on the tragedy blames Russian security forces for the bloody outcome.

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Gregory Feifer

Gregory Feifer reports for NPR from Moscow, covering Russia's resurgence under President Vladimir Putin and the country's transition to the post-Putin era. He files from other former Soviet republics and across Russia, where he's observed the effects of the country's vast new oil wealth on an increasingly nationalistic society as well as Moscow's rekindling of a new Cold War-style opposition to the West.

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