The War on Terror – Beslan Remembered
With all the issues that we are facing these days, we can not forget that the War of Terror is still going on.
Today we remember the 331 who died when Chechan terrorists booby trapped a school on its first day of the school year. The horror when the building was blown up and these children shot should never be forgotten.
So today, when we mourn for those on the Gulf Coast, save a prayer for the families of Beslan.
Piercing wails cut through the air as grief-stricken residents of this southern Russian town held a moment of silence Saturday, a year to the day after hundreds of their relatives and neighbors died in a hail of gunfire and explosions that ended a horrific school hostage crisis.
President Vladimir Putin ordered his prosecutor-general to send investigators for a fresh probe into Russia’s worst terrorist attack, a day after he met with Beslan residents who have complained about the way authorities handled the school seizure.
By 1:05 p.m., the time of the first explosion that announced the bloody end to the three-day hostage crisis, at least 4,000 people had squeezed into the courtyard outside the Beslan school gymnasium where the victims endured terror, thirst and hunger.
As a bell tolled, children released 331 white balloons into the air to symbolize the souls of the dead. The moment of silence was broken by a wave of wailing that rippled through crowd, and at least one woman collapsed.