AT MIDDLE School No 1 in Beslan, Russian parents and pupils began September 1 as they always have — by celebrating the start of a new academic year.

Children, aged from 7 to 16, came clutching flowers for their teachers. They gathered in the sports hall for the national anthem. But at 9.30am, the school was plunged into Russia’s out-of-control Chechen war.

As many as 20 black-clad assailants, men and women with explosives strapped to their waists, jumped from a covered lorry and burst into the school firing rifles.

They shot those who resisted and reportedly laid mines and trip wires around the school in the farming town of 35,000 people in the republic of North Ossetia. A police spokesman said that they had forced children to stand at the windows to deter any attempt to free them.

As security forces surrounded the building with troops and armoured vehicles, the attackers threatened reprisals if they were attacked.

Kazbek Dzantiev, North Ossetia’s Interior Minister, said: “For every destroyed rebel, they will kill 50 children, and 20 children for every injured rebel.”

Late last night armoured cars, troops and police enforced a security cordon 100 yards from the school and the sound of sporadic gunfire could be heard. Two soldiers manning the checkpoint said that seven bodies were lying in the street, including those of children thrown from the windows of the school. When troops tried to retrieve them, they came under sniper fire.

As dawn approached, an eery calm reigned in the town, about 30 miles from Chechnya. Locals stood around in clusters, whispering to each other.

Reports said that the dead included a child, a father shot trying to resist the raiders and one attacker. A lucky few — about 15 — had managed to escape, apparently by hiding in the boiler room. They included a young girl in a mauve floral dress who sprinted to safety, her hand clasped by a soldier wielding a machinegun. Another 15 children were released by hostage-takers.

But many were left inside. Nobody knew the exact number but reports put it at anywhere from 125 to 400, many of them children.

Vladislav Kanukov’s wife Zalina was taking their 12-year-old daughter Angelika to school when the rebels attacked. He said: “I heard an explosion and shots being fired, and ran over to the school. There was panic.

“One security guard shot one of the terrorists but he was killed. Some parents tried to get children out. Then soldiers and police started to arrive. Since then we haven’t heard anything. The Government is not giving us any information. I don’t understand what they want to achieve.”

Lyuda Albegava’s nieces, aged 12 and 15, are among the hostages. She said: “I don’t understand how this could happen. This is a quiet town. We never did anything to hurt anyone. All we can do is pray.”

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