Investigators are nonetheless wanting into one of many worst terrorist assaults in Russian historical past
One of many militants who took half within the 2004 assault on a major faculty in Beslan has been recognized by DNA matching, Izvestia reported on Friday, citing an investigator who’s engaged on the case. The three-day siege ended with 334 of the hostages lifeless, 186 of whom have been youngsters.
A bunch of 32 terrorists loyal to Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev had seized Faculty Quantity One in Beslan, within the Russian area of North Ossetia, on September 1, 2004 – the primary day of the college 12 months. They took hostage 1,127 youngsters and workers members, retaining them within the faculty health club with out meals or water for 3 days. All however one of many terrorists died within the shootout with Russian safety forces. 5 of them have been so badly burned, they might not be recognized.
One in every of them, recognized for 19 years as ‘Militant 11’, has now been recognized as Aslanbek Parchiev, a local of close by Ingushetia, Investigative Committee official Albert Hasauov advised Izvestia in an unique interview.
“We haven’t stopped investigating that crime, to at the present time,” Hasauov advised the outlet.
In Could this 12 months, the Investigative Committee acquired info that one of many unidentified terrorists got here up on a fingerprint match. Because it turned out, Militant 11 had been fingerprinted in 2002, when he was arrested for a misdemeanor in Moscow.
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The authorities situated Parchiev’s household, however they might not determine him from images of his charred stays. His sisters contributed DNA samples for evaluation, which confirmed 99% certainty that ‘Militant 11’ was their brother, Hasauov revealed.
Each sisters advised the police they nonetheless couldn’t imagine their brother had been a terrorist who took half in taking youngsters hostage. He final spoke to the household in 2003, telling them he was going to Kazakhstan to search out work. Parchiev’s dad and mom had hoped he would turn out to be a physician, within the household custom, however he dropped out of faculty and began shopping for and reselling varied items.
One other affirmation of Parchiev’s identification got here from the only real surviving terrorist, Nurpasha Kulayev, who’s at present serving a life sentence in a jail colony in Siberia. In response to Hasauov, Kulayev acknowledged Parchiev as one of many militants who was within the health club with an assault rifle, and instructed he could have been killed on September 1, the primary day of the standoff.
Kulayev maintains that he had no concept their goal was a college full of kids and fogeys, till the assault was underway. The unique plan, he mentioned, was to grab the police precinct or the native administration.
For 3 days, the militants held their hostages within the overcrowded health club, rigged with explosives. There was no ingesting water. A number of the male hostages have been executed. On the third day, one among their improvised explosive gadgets detonated by mistake. This triggered the storming of the college by the safety forces. Kulayev jumped out of a window along with a few of the hostages and surrendered to the authorities.
The college siege was a turning level within the Chechen battle, with a lot of the Caucasus turning in opposition to Basayev for focusing on youngsters. Basayev himself died in July 2006, assassinated by the Russian safety service FSB.
