Victim says gunmen 'had accomplices outside'

The case of Nurpashi Kulayev charged with involvement in the attack on the school in Beslan continued to be heard in North Ossetia's Supreme Court today.

Eduard Adayev, a district prefecture official, was interrogated as a victim. Adayev had not been in the school, but he had been near it during the onslaught. He told in detail how he rescued two girls and what was going in the school and outside it during the onslaught.

"The first two days, Lev Dzugayev (spokesman for North Ossetia's former president Alexander Dzasokhov - ed.) was constantly coming out to us, repeating one and the same, that they demanded Dzasokhov, Roshal, Aslakhanov, and Ziazikov without any other demands. The people were agitated and everyone demanded that Dzasokhov should come out to meet the people. They went to the headquarters which Dzasokhov headed, but even then he did not come out, but Mamsurov (the former speaker - ed.) did. He said they would do everything to prevent an onslaught. Then blasts thundered. In a while, I ran into the school. Children were lying all over in the hall, some burning, some still alive. They were no longer able to cry and just stared, all sooty, half-naked... I took out two girls. Then came the third blast."

To the prosecutor's question about fire on the school, Mr Adayev answered evasively: "If the terrorists had no large-calibre weapons, it turns out such were not fired at the school. If they had, then I don't know. I know as much as ordinary people." (Being an official, Eduard Adayev might be afraid to tell what he really thought. - ed.)

Inga Kharebov was taken hostage together with her son. She told the court in detail what was going on in the school: "In the school, they videotaped us. When we asked why they needed it, a gunman said, 'Maybe, they will tell the truth at least now that you are more than 350.' One woman then asked reproachfully how they could do that, seize a school. In reply, he said, 'You would be even more surprised if you knew who sold you. But you will never know that."

Inga Kharebov managed to escape during the onslaught. She met her mother in a Beslan hospital. "With my mum, we went out the hospital and got into a car. The driver was a man in a police uniform, but he had no shoulder-straps. At once, a man in black clothes, unshaven, sat down near him in front and another one looking the same way sat down near us. There were already rumours that the gunmen had escaped, so I suspected something. When I told them the address, it looked like they had not heard me and they continued to go in the opposite direction. The driver was like a robot. I gave the address louder and the man in black then turned round and said, 'I don't know where it is.' They were trying to go to the first school. My mum and I got out nearly in motion. I was not capable of thinking after the shock I had experienced in the school, but now the picture is getting clearer. I am sure they had accomplices outside and very many managed to escape."

• Kulayev thought to have 'mission'