On this day in 2004: The Beslan Massacre took place

Start:	Sep 3, '09
Location:	Beslan, Russia

The Beslan school hostage crisis (also referred to as the Beslan school siege or Beslan massacre) began when a group of armed Islamic terrorists, demanding an end to the Second Chechen War, took more than 1,100 people (including some 777 children) hostage at School Number One in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, an autonomous republic in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.

On the third day of the standoff, Russian security forces stormed the building using tanks, thermobaric rockets and other heavy weapons. A series of explosions shook the school, followed by a fire which engulfed the building and a chaotic gunbattle between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. Ultimately, at least 334 hostages were killed, including 186 children. Hundreds more were wounded or reported missing.

Questions about the government's management of the crisis have also persisted, including disinformation and censorship in news media, repressions of journalists who rushed to Beslan, the nature and content of negotiations with the militants, the responsibility for the bloody outcome, and the government's use of possibly excessive force.