EX-BESLAN HOSTAGE SAYS TERRORIST TOLD THEM: “SAVE YOURSELVES”

Other former Beslan hostages have testified at the trial of Nur-Pashi Kulaev, the sole participant in the Beslan school seizure to be apprehended by the authorities, that the number of terrorists involved was more than the official number of 32. Interfax reported on July 19 that Veronika Salkazarov told North Ossetia’s Supreme Court that by her count, the were “not fewer than 50” terrorists involved in the raid, and “they were constantly replacing one another.”

Another former hostage, Ingir Kokaev, told the court that one of the terrorists told the hostages, “we came here not to kill; we came here to do our business. We want Chechnya and our people who are in your prisons to be freed. But if they suddenly begin an assault at night, save yourselves and take out your children.”