Beslan suspects killed in raid
2005-03-04 11:42
Rostov-On-Don - Russian authorities killed five people suspected of aiding September's school hostage-taking in southern Russia in a raid and arrested four other suspects, prosecutors said on Friday.
Nikolai Shepel, Russia's deputy prosecutor general, said in a statement that the arrested men were suspected of helping stage the hostage taking in Beslan where assailants held more than a thousand hostages for nearly three days before the siege ended on September 3 in gunfire and explosions.
The statement did not say when or where the raid took place.
Shepel also said that the arrested suspects were also accused of involvement in last June's attack on police facilities in Russia's southern region of Ingushetia near Chechnya.
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed more than 330 people.
- AP