Hostage-tak­ing at school No. 1 in the city of Beslan (North Osse­tia), com­mit­ted by ter­ror­ists on Sep­tem­ber 1, 2004, dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ni­al cer­e­mo­ny ded­i­cat­ed to the begin­ning of the school year. For two and a half days, the ter­ror­ists held more than 1,100 hostages (most­ly chil­dren, their par­ents and school staff) in a mined build­ing in the most dif­fi­cult con­di­tions, deny­ing peo­ple even the min­i­mum nat­ur­al needs. As a result of the ter­ror­ist attack, 314 hostages were killed, includ­ing 186 chil­dren.