16:48, 1 September 2005

Terrorists 'were setting hostages against the government'

History teacher Nadezhda Guriev who was a hostage in school No 1 in Beslan believes that the first blast in the gymnasium in September 2004 could have occurred because of a bullet ricocheting from metal constructions when gunmen were shooting in the air.

"I am sure that none of our police officers and military men outside was shooting because my brother was on the roof of a house near the school together with a riot police commander and he saw the entire situation. They said that there had been not a single shot. But we also saw another thing. I was sitting in the gymnasium and I saw gunmen go out into the back room from time to time where they were shooting and then came back into the gymnasium and told us, 'Here, you see, it's your guys are shooting!' Thereby, they were purposefully setting hostages against the government and they were doing that professionally," the teacher said.

She told that she had heard a clap from the direction of the door that led to the school corridor. There was a bomb fastened to the wall with a sticky tape, according to Ms Guriev. "This bomb came off the wall several times and the gunmen stuck it back again. One of the gunmen constantly had his foot on the button of the bomb. I turned up my head and heard a blast, and there was a clap just before that. Not far from there, under the basketball backboard, there was a group of gunmen and shooting was to be heard from there. They practically did not control themselves any longer and one of the bullets they fired could rebound from the metal construction and hit the bomb or hit the gunman who had his foot on the bomb button," said Ms Guriev. Besides, she saw the gunman with his foot on the button begin to fall, Interfax quotes.