MOSCOW, Sept 9 (AFP) - South Ossetian president Alexander Dzasokhov dismissed his government Thursday in the wake of a school hostage crisis that killed at least 336 people in his republic, a spokesman said.
"The decree went into effect Thursday," his spokesman Igor Dzantiev told Interfax news agency.
Dzantiev said the new government candidacies would be presented shortly.
Dzasokhov has come under fire for his handling of the crisis in the nearby town of Beslan, in particular for not fulfilling a demand of the hostage-takers to negotiate with them in person at the school.
A massive rally of irate family and friends of survivors demanded Wednesday that he take responsibility for the crisis and step down himself, but Dzasokhov has been evasive on the issue, hinting only that he may do so soon.
On Thursday, authorities organized a pro-Dzasokhov rally of about 1,000 people that suggested that the under-fire Ossetian leader has decided to cling on to power despite the popular discontent.
The three-day siege which began a week ago ended on Friday with hundreds dead -- half of them children -- after security forces made an unplanned assault on the building where 1,200 hostages were being held.
No federal government officials have lost their jobs over the tragedy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched an internal investigation of the affair, which Moscow officials have linked to guerrillas from separatist Chechnya.