Former hostage's death raises Beslan death toll to 332

Nearly two years after the terrorist attack at Beslan's School No. 1, 66-year-old Taisia Dauyeva, one of the victims of the tragedy, has died in Vladikavkaz, a representative of the North Ossetian Health Service Ministry official told Interfax.

Dauyeva, her son and two grandsons were among the hostages in the school September 1-3, 2004, according to ministry information. She was disabled after sustaining numerous injuries in the explosions and had undergone lengthy treatment at hospitals in Moscow and Vladikavkaz.

Dauyeva's health had rapidly deteriorated over the past two weeks.

Her death brings the toll in the terrorist attack to 332.

Coincidentally, the 331st fatality in the attack also came in August, one year ago, with the death of Marina Zhukayeva, the ministry official said.

Two more former hostages remain in grave condition, and 40 children who were among the hostages are disabled and will require lifelong care, he said.
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Lest we forget......

It was Friday morning, and the hostage nightmare in Beslan, a small town in the Russian republic of North Ossetia, was in its third day. Kasumova, a 37-year-old teacher at the school, and Timur were among the nearly 1,200 hostages packed into the gym.

Most of the children had long since stripped down to their underwear; some fainted from thirst, while others drank their own urine.

The place was festooned with bombs: explosives hung down from the beams and the basketball hoops, some so low that the taller hostages banged their heads on them as they went to the toilet. That made the guerrillas very nervous. From the bombs came tangled wires snaking through the tight rows of children, connected to two spring-loaded detonator pedals held down by the feet of two guerrillas.

If either man moved, the hostages were told, the room would explode. "Bear this in mind," one of the guerrillas said, referring to the Russian commandos who surrounded the building. "They are planning a storm. We will defend you to the last bullet, then blow ourselves up. We have nothing to lose.

We came here to die."

Entire article here.

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Jeff Davis