Putin admits 'we were weak'

By ANDREW OSBORN and RAYMOND WHITAKER in Beslan

The death toll in the worst terror outrage since September 11 rose to at least 361 yesterday as President Vladimir Putin called the Russian school siege part of "a full-scale war" on the nation by international terrorists, and made a rare admission of weakness.

Putin made a national TV address as hundreds of distraught people in the Caucasus town of Beslan pleaded with the authorities for information to help them find loved ones caught up in the siege.

Putin, who made a dawn visit to the town in the far southern province of North Ossetia, told Russians: "We showed weakness, and the weak are beaten. We haven't shown enough understanding of the complexity and danger of what is happening in our own country and in the world."

Inside the school, workers completed the grim job of clearing corpses from the gym where hundreds of children had been held for three days without food or water, surrounded by explosives.

Calling the siege a "grim reminder of the nature of the terrorists we face", United States President George Bush told an election rally in Ohio: "We saw the horror of terror in Russia, and I can just imagine the heartfelt anguish of the mums and dads of those Russian kids."

The official number of people killed, according to the regional emergency situations minister, Boris Dzgoyev, was 361, including 159 children and 35 attackers. Medical sources said more than 542 people, including 336 children, were wounded with 423 still hospitalised yesterday after the crisis ended in explosions and gunfire. The number of missing was put at 260.

There have been contradictory estimates with some officials putting the death toll at between 360 and 400.

There was equal confusion over the number and identity of the hostage-takers. Dzgoyev said that 35 men and women with explosives and weapons had been "eliminated" after the 10-hour battle on Friday. His statement was in contrast to claims by a senior prosecutor, who said there were only 26 terrorists, and all were killed. Who the hostage-takers were, and what they wanted, were similarly unclear. Officials were quick to link the attack to Russia's war in neighbouring Chechnya, as well as to international terror groups, amid reports that at least nine Arabs were among the hostage-takers.

Putin announced a shake-up of the military, special forces and emergency services, saying: "We weren't able to react to [the hostage-takers] in an adequate fashion."

At a morgue in the nearby city of Vladikavkaz, hundreds queued for the gruesome task of identifying their relatives. Dozens of stretchers, most with the corpses of women and children, lay outside.

One woman pleaded with an official to help her: "I beg you. I want to know where my child is, how many days have we waited?" At the city's main hospital, one of several dealing with gunshot and burns victims, the head doctor, Uruzmag Dzhanyev, said 250 children were being treated. "Many children - even those who live - will be invalids. Some do not have eyes," he said.

Anger was directed at the President. "Putin came here at four this morning," said Boris, whose neighbour and all her family disappeared. "He saw no one and talked to no one. He just wanted to show the world how young and handsome he is, but he hasn't helped, he won't help, and he can't stop this happening again."

Russian security forces admitted yesterday that the trigger for the confused and bloody end to the siege was probably accidental.

The chaos was worsened by the presence of armed civilians among the crowds of relatives and onlookers at the scene. Security forces found it impossible to distinguish between hostages, terrorists and self-appointed vigilantes.

- INDEPENDENT