Attackers 'refused to kill children'

The leader of the Beslan terrorists killed several gang members after they objected to taking children hostage, it was reported yesterday.

The claim emerged as the town held funerals for 120 of the 335 victims of the school massacre and Russia began two days of official mourning.

The death toll included 156 children, while 30 kidnappers also died.

Nur-Pashi Kulayev, one of three captured gunmen, told his lawyer the argument broke out after the group took over the school. Their leader had not told them what their mission was and a fierce row erupted.

The commander shot the leader of the breakaway group dead and then detonated the suicide belts worn by two women raiders by remote control to establish order, the 26-year-old's lawyer, Umar Sikoyev, said.

It also emerged the hostage-takers belonged to a cell formed by Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev.

Investigator Mikhail Lapotnikov said the group also attacked police and security officials in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia in June, killing 88.

Meanwhile, criticism of the government's response to the tragedy was growing, with president Vladimir Putin coming under renewed attack. 'We are absolutely defenceless in the air, in the metro, in our own capital and outside it,' said MP Vladimir Ryzhkov.

As the nation mourned, the people of Beslan turned out in the pouring rain for a second day of funerals.

Relatives wept in the streets as 120 coffins were taken for burial in the town cemetery and neighbouring fields - their shrieks and wails almost drowning out the sound of mechanical earth-movers digging fresh graves.

Nearly 200 people are still missing. In the rubble of School No.1, former hostages and those searching for loved ones wandered around the burnt-out remains of the gymnasium.

A man called Boris was looking for his 14-year-old nephew, Aslan. All he could find was a shoe.

'You won't find a soul here who is not attending a funeral today,' another resident said.

'These were all our children, they were all our brothers and sisters.'