Russia to launch Beslan inquiry

Russians are seeking answers to the bloodshed at Beslan

Russia says it will launch an inquiry to unravel the sequence of events which brought a violent end to the school siege at Beslan in North Ossetia.

President Vladimir Putin has pledged full co-operation with the parliamentary investigation.

At least 326 people were killed in the three-day siege as Chechen separatists held more than 1,000 children and adults hostage.

Some 62 injured children and adults from Beslan have been flown to Moscow.

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"We are interested in obtaining a full and objective picture of the tragic events linked with the hostage-taking in Beslan," Mr Putin said at a televised meeting with the speaker of the country's upper house of parliament.

However, it is not clear whether the results of the inquiry will be made public and some analysts have expressed doubts over the commission's impartiality.

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The president has warned against any investigation that might become a "political show" and promised the commission would have access to all the documents it needed.

Members of Russia's upper house will investigate the events surrounding the siege which authorities say left 727 people injured. More than 100 bodies have yet to be identified.

The BBC's Rob Cameron in Moscow says critics are wondering whether the upper house is really up to the task. They point out that the federation council is an appointed body, not an elected one and that the majority of its members are strongly supportive of Mr Putin.

In other developments:

• Russia's interior ministry says it will overhaul the security in the North Caucasus region and create special anti-terror units

• The Russian army's Chief of Staff, General Yuri Baluevsky says Moscow plans to launch pre-emptive strikes on terrorist bases "in any region of the world"

• Moscow's parliament is considering the introduction of broad security measures such as metal detectors on the metro, in department stores and in theatres

• The North Ossetian Parliament approves former Transport Minister Alan Boradzov as the new prime minister following the mass resignation of the region's government.

• A Russian newspaper names the leader of the hostage-takers as Ruslan Khuchbarov.

TRAGEDY IN NUMBERS 326 dead More than 100 bodies unidentified 727 hostages injured Russia's most wanted Agony goes on for relatives

Russia has blamed the mass hostage-taking in Beslan on Chechen rebels backed by foreign Muslim militants.

It has offered 300m roubles ($10m; £5.7m) for information leading to the arrest of Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov.

Russian authorities have said the siege's bloody climax seems to have begun when the hostage-takers were rearranging explosives in the school gymnasium and accidentally detonated one of them.

They say the hostage-takers had gathered in a forest before on 1 September then driven to the school with a lorry and two jeeps packed with weapons and explosives.

The town's children were celebrating the start of the new school year with parents and staff when they were taken hostage.