Beslan school siege

September 1, 2004

Chechen militants seized a school in North Ossetia on the first day of classes, herding more than eleven hundred children, parents, and teachers into a wired-up gymnasium rigged with explosives. Russian forces stormed the building three days later in a chaotic assault. At least 334 hostages died, nearly half of them children. Putin tightened his grip on the Caucasus.