ИСТИНА

On Sept. 1, 2004, a group of 32 terrorists invaded and took control of School No1 in Beslan, Ossetia. Sept., the 1st is the beginning of new academic year in Russia, therefore about 1100 people (mainly children, but also members of school staff, parents and siblings) were taken hostage. They were without water or food until Sept. 3, when the army and police opened fire. As a result, 334 hostages (184 children among them) and 31 terrorists were killed, and more than 800 people were injured. The declared goal of this attack was to rescue the hostages. Why the number of victims was so high is still the subject of controversy. In a speech, the leader of the terrorist group, Shamil Basaev, said that he “never would have thought that the Russian government would be ready to sacrifice children’s lives”. On other hand some of Russian officers sacrificed their lives laying on the terrorists’ bombs to rescue the hostages. Victoria Guseynova was 14 years old in 2004. When terrorists exploded a bomb she covered 3 yo boy, and was so badly injured that was considered as dead by medics who have arrived for help. After few years of endless surgeries, she almost recovered, and refused to be considered as disabled.