Page "Beslan school hostage crisis" Paragraph 92

The Russian government defended the use of tanks and other heavy weaponry, arguing that it was used only after surviving hostages escaped from the school.

However, this contradicts the eyewitness accounts, including by the reporters and former hostages.

According to the survivors and other witnesses, many hostages were seriously wounded and could not possibly escape by themselves, while others were kept by the militants as human shields and moved through the building.