322 People, Including 155 Children, Killed In Russian School

BESLAN, Russia, Sept 4 (AFP) - Some 322 people, including 155 children, were killed in the three-day hostage siege in a southern Russian school on the edge of Chechnya, said Russia's Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky.
"We are still identifying the bodies. We have recovered 322 bodies, 155 of them are children," Fridinsky told reporters.
"These are not the final figures, and they will probably grow, but not by too much."
He also said that 26 hostage-takers were killed in the attacks.
The toll marks the highest in any single hostage-taking in the history of Russia, which has gone through a decade of warfare in separatist Chechnya.
The three-day siege ended in nightmarish scenes that the press described as the "worst possible scenario", with half-naked, bloodied children fleeing from the school and the mutilated bodies of the dead rushed out on stretchers.
Corpses were Saturday still being carried out of the gymnasium where the hostages were held by guerrillas demanding independence for Chechnya.