Siege lessons not learnt, says terror expert
Military chiefs have been struggling to bring control to the chaotic aftermath of the siege at a school in southern Russia, an expert said today.
The complicated layout of the site in Beslan with numerous entry and exit points has led to a great deal of confusion.
Authorities were unable to plan for their attack on the terrorists and had seemed ready to continue negotiations to end the crisis which began two days ago.
But instead fighting broke out between Chechen rebels and Russian soldiers today after children tried to escape the school.
The Russian authorities were apparently not prepared for the violence that ensued, with ambulances reportedly not even on standby to treat injured victims at the scene.
Worried members of the public were also able to gain access to the site while some hostage takers were allowed to flee into the town.
Professor Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, said: “There does seem to have been a large degree of confusion.
“The layout of the school is quite complicated. It seems that it has been very difficult for the security forces to control all those possible exit points.”
It was also “far from ideal” that no ambulances were present at the site at the time the violence broke out today.
“Even if they had not been planning any kind of military action there should have been ambulance services available for the victims in the event that some violence did break out,” he said.
“It is very hard to see a situation happening in a Western European country where ambulances were not there.”
The lack of medical assistance reflected the situation at the Moscow theatre siege two years ago when hostages were not able to be treated soon enough for the effects of gas used by special forces to knock out the terrorists.
“There were lessons that needed to be learnt from the previous siege that haven’t really been fully taken on board,” Professor Wilkinson said.
“But the main blame must lie with the hostage takers who are quite exceptionally violent people, prepared to take young children hostage, people who are the absolute epitome of innocence.”
