And lured the children with chocolate. From Pravda, :
Everything was fine and quiet in the morning of September 1st at school N1 in the North Ossetian town of Beslan in southern Russia. September 1st is celebrated in Russia nationwide as the Day of Knowledge – the start of a school year. There was a meeting in front of the school building – teachers were congratulating children, the latter were giggling and laughing.
A military GAZ-66 truck and a police car drove up to the building thirty minutes after the start of the meeting. Terrorists seized the police car and the officer in it on their way to the school, the Izvestia reports. About 15 armed people, with several women among them, jumped out of the truck.
Rosa Dudiyeva, a grandmother of a first-grade girl named Milana, told the Kommersant: “When the meeting was over, the daughter went to her class room with other children, and I stayed outside to talk to one of the teachers. A military truck appeared in front of the school building. People wearing camouflage and masks jumped out of the truck – I could see only their eyes and beards. They opened fire, everyone started running about. Some people, including myself, managed to hide behind a fence. We tried to peep out to see what was happening, but were scared to approach the building. Several gunmen stayed outside, near the entrance. They started screaming in very good Russian: “Russians, Russians, come here, don’t be afraid!” One of the terrorists tried to lure children with a chocolate.”