Russia Mourns Beslan's Dead

Flags were flying at half-mast across Russia today as two days of national mourning began for the more than 330 people killed in the Beslan school siege.

Some 100 funerals were expected to take place today in the small city in North Ossetia, in the south of the country, and there will be many more over the coming days for the victims of the hostage crisis, around half of whom were children.

Most people in Beslan, which has a population of around 30,000, had a relative, friend or neighbour killed or wounded at Middle School No 1, where more than 30 militants took more than 1,000 children and adults hostage last Wednesday.

Wails from grieving women resounded from courtyards where families made ritual meals and from a football field-sized plot of land next to the cemetery.

Men dug graves as surveyors across the road marked out new plots with wooden stakes and string. "When a person goes to the cemetery for a burial it is sad, but nothing like this, when you dig graves for your children," said Anzor Kudziyev, 25, a volunteer gravedigger.

Meanwhile the uncertainty went on for the families of those still missing. The ITAR-Tass news agency cited a Beslan city official as saying 176 children were still missing.

Russian media speculated that some of them could be wounded and in hospital, where they might be too shocked, or just too young, to identify themselves.

The health ministry said only 207 of the dead had been formally identified. Some 700 people were injured, and of these 386, including 184 children, remained in hospital; 58 people were said to be in a critical condition.

The region's top police officer, Kazbek Dzantiyev, tendered his resignation yesterday morning as questions continued to be asked about how the siege was brought to a chaotic end.

"After what happened in Beslan, I don't have the right to occupy this post as an officer and a man," he said.

The hostages were forced into the gymnasium, which was wired with explosives, including bombs hanging from basketball hoops. Many people were killed when militants triggered a wave of explosions on Friday, possibly by accident, as emergency workers entered the school courtyard to collect the corpses of those killed in an initial raid.

The blasts tore through the roof and debris rained down on hostages. As survivors attempted to escape the militants opened fire.

Muradi Nartikoyev, one of the Beslan town elders officiating at mourning ceremonies, said the whole regional government should step down. "If they had fulfilled their duty this would not have been possible," he said.

Russia's deputy prosecutor-general was also reported to have confirmed that one man had been charged with "personal participation" in the siege.

Although 35 hostage-takers were believed to have been killed in 10 hours of fighting that followed the end of the siege, the deputy prosecutor, Sergei Fridinsky, said he believed 32 terrorists had been involved and that two remained alive and in custody.

Mr Fridinsky said the man charged was part of the hostage-taking gang. He was seen on Russian television yesterday being led into a cell at gunpoint by two masked men in military uniforms.

The suspect, who was not named, was leaning forward, his hands cuffed behind his back. He shouted at a cameraman in Russian: "By Allah, I have not shot. By Allah, I have not killed."

The man, who was asked by a watching reporter if he had sympathy for the child hostages, added: "Yes, I was sorry for them. I myself have children."

Questions also remained about the identity of the hostage-takers. State-controlled television said yesterday they included Kazakhs, Chechens, Arabs, Ingush and Slavs.

In Scotland, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales joined a church service yesterday to pray for the victims. The health secretary, John Reid, called the militants "bestial".

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, went on national television on Saturday to make a rare admission of Russian weakness in the face of an "all-out war" by terrorists. He promised measures to "strengthen the unity" of the country.

Meanwhile, it is thought that Australian police, who built up expertise in victim identification and grief counselling after the Bali bombing, could head to Russia this week to offer assistance.