MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. Diplomats to Russia from different countries have laid flowers at Moscow’s memorial dedicated to the victims of Beslan school terrorist attack, the EU Delegation to Russia said in a statement on Monday.
The delegation pointed out that the ceremony was attended by Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Russia Aleska Simkic, diplomats from Austrian, Bulgarian, UK, German, Irish, Spanish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish embassies, as well the Australian, Canadian and the US ones.
"On 1 September 2004, the School Number One in Beslan, Russia, was attacked by terrorists. On today’s fifteenth anniversary we remember the more than 300 victims, including 186 children, who died during the three-day siege. We stand in solidarity with and support of those who have lost their loved ones. There is no place for terrorism anywhere in the world," the statement reads.
Beslan terror attack
The Beslan school hostage crisis (also referred to as the Beslan school siege or Beslan massacre) started on September 1, 2004, when a gang of 30 terrorists seized Beslan’s school No. 1 on the first day of the academic year during a gala ceremony in the yard. The terrorists forced more than one thousand hostages, including small kids, into the school’s gym and kept them there for three days without food and water. The operation to free the hostages began on September 3.
The tragedy claimed 334 lives. Of those killed 318 were hostages, including 186 children. Ten commandoes, two emergencies ministry specialists and 15 police were killed and another 810 hostages, commandoes, police and troops were injured.