Russian commission clears Beslan rescue effort

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) More than two years after the Beslan school siege by pro-Chechnya rebels, a Russian commission on Friday cleared security officials of responsibility for a bungled rescue effort in which more than 300 people died.

The rebels had seized more than 1,000 children and parents attending a ceremony to mark the start of a new school year on Sept.

1, 2004. More than half of the 333 hostages killed in the three-day siege were children.

''Federal authorities ... acted adequately according to the situation that emerged,'' the head of the parliamentary commission, Alexander Torshin, told the upper house Federation Council.

''The main efforts were aimed at negotiating with the bandits in order to free and rescue as many people as possible.'' Torshin said 32 rebels seized the school in southern Russia and all but one were killed. The surviving rebel was tried and jailed for life. None fled as some feared, he added.

''The Beslan tragedy became a turning point in the fight against terrorism,'' Torshin said.

Critics of President Vladimir Putin say he has used the Beslan disaster to gain more control over Russia. But Torshin said anti-terrorism measures introduced by the Kremlin since then had worked.

''After Beslan, not a single large-scale terror act against the civilian population has been carried out in Russia,'' he said, noting that between 1995 and 2004 Russia had suffered more than 40 such attacks.

Earlier this year, a member of the commission and a respected explosives expert, Yuri Savelyev, said security forces had triggered the chaotic storming, causing many of the deaths.

The claim was rejected in the final report after investigators were given additional time to check it.

''The commission, working from numerous examinations and testimonies, has officially established: the cause of the explosion was in the terrorists' actions,'' Torshin said.

The report also concluded that a Russian tank had not fired at the school building when hostages where still inside, as has been claimed.

Commanders gave the order to fire only after making sure there were no hostages at places where the rebels were clustered, Torshin said.

The commission blamed local authorities for ignoring calls to boost security in regional schools ahead of the first day of the school year. No armed police were present at the Beslan school ceremony, Torshin said.

Security services had also failed to gain advance information about plans for the siege, he added.

Reuters SP DB1828