The operation to free hostages in the Beslan school siege was full of "failures and shortcomings", says an official investigating the 2004 crisis. Alexander Torshin, the man leading a federal parliamentary commission inquiry, gave parliament an update of his findings on Wednesday. The new information is in full contrast with the prosecutor's report released on Monday, which said security forces had made no mistakes. A total of 331 people, including 86 children, died in the bloody end of the school siege in the small city Beslan in Northern Osetia in Russia. Over 30 terrorists stormed the Beslan school on 1 September 2004, at the start of the new school year in Russia. They held over 1,200 hostages, children and adults, for nearly three days without giving them food and water. The siege ended when Russian troops stormed the building.

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