| A militant detained in last week's bloody school takeover in southern Russia, reported to be the only detained member of the 30-plus gang of terrorists, has testified that the orders to attack the school came from separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and warlord Shamil Basayev, Interfax reports. The man's testimony was broadcast on the government's Rossiya TV channel. "We were gathered in the forest, by [a man] nicknamed Polkovnik [the Colonel], and they said: we must take over a school in Beslan. This assignment, they told us, Maskhadov and Basayev gave the assignment," the man was quoted by Interfax as saying. "When we asked "the Colonel": why do this, what's the purpose, he, "the Colonel", had said: because we need to unleash war throughout the Caucasus," the man said, according to Interfax. |