Beslan school siege mastermind killed in an opearation in Russia

Moscow, Jun 17 (UNI) Ruslan Aushev, the mastermind of the bloody siege of the Beslan school, in the North Ossetia republic, in southern Russia, was killed today in a special forces' operation, RIA Novosti news agency reported quoting the special services.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) for the Russian Republic of Ingushetia near Chechnya said Aushev had been found in a house in a local village today. When the police and special forces tried to arrest him, he opened fire and sustained a lethal wound from return fire.

The FSB said Aushev was one of the leaders of the hostage-taking crisis in a Beslan school in September 2004.

Officially, 331 people, including 186 children, were killed and about 700 people were injured in the siege.

The FSB also said Aushev's group had attacked law enforcement headquarters and planted explosives on motorways.

Last December, Russia's Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for the only surviving terrorist Nur-Pashi Kulayev involved in the siege of a school after an appeal hearing.

Kulayev was one of the 32 militants who attacked the school, taking more than 1,100 students and staff hostage on September 1, 2004. Most of the hostages were rescued as security forces stormed the schoold building.

UNI