Russia marks Beslan siege deaths

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Russia has marked the third anniversary of the school hostage crisis in Beslan, in which at least 331 people died, more than half of them children.

Some 3,000 people, many holding candles and flowers, gathered outside the ruins of the school in the southern town.

The three-day siege was the single most lethal attack by pro-Chechen rebels on civilians in Russia.

Some of the victims' relatives accuse the Kremlin of concealing the full truth about the 2004 events.

Conflicting claims

The memorial opened with the tolling of bells at the wreckage of the school in Russia's republic of North Ossetia.

The gunmen filmed the hostages' nightmare

Photos of the victims lined the ruins of the gymnasium, where the gunmen held more than 1,000 hostages.

Security has been stepped up across the region for the three days of commemorative events.

In December, Russian investigators said the hostage-taking was carefully planned by Chechen rebel leaders.

A parliamentary commission concluded that 32 militants took part in the raid and that they set off the first explosion inside the school.

It rejected claims by some of the victims' relatives that Russian security forces deliberately stormed the school to flush out the gunmen.

The commission's conclusions contradicted an earlier account of the siege given by Russian investigator Yuri Savelyev.

He said grenades fired by surrounding Russian forces probably triggered the bloodbath, arguing that the explosive devices planted by the gunmen "did not explode at all".

Many relatives blame their children's deaths on the botched rescue operation, in which fire engulfed the school.

The sole surviving hostage-taker, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, was jailed for life in May 2006.