2004 World Events · Counterterror expansion and networked conflict
Beslan school siege
Militants seized a school in North Ossetia; the siege ended in mass deaths including many children.
Evidence-led reading
What is stated, why it matters, and what remains uncertain
What this is
A specific-event record selected from the protected World Events source ledger for cross-year research. It is not an exhaustive account of 2004.
Why it matters
It hardened Russian counterterrorism centralization and became a symbol of hostage-crisis failure.
What is established here
The page faithfully exposes the submitted record and its source boundary. No claim-level evidence packet has yet upgraded the record beyond a research starting point.
What remains uncertain
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Record narrative
Source-bounded summary
Militants seized a school in North Ossetia; the siege ended in mass deaths including many children.
It hardened Russian counterterrorism centralization and became a symbol of hostage-crisis failure.
Structured fields
Record at a glance
- Stable record ID
- 2004-003
- Date or period
- 2004-09-01 to 2004-09-03
- Type
- Terrorist attack
- Focus
- Terrorism
- Impact scope
- Continental
- Priority
- 5 of 5
- Location label
- Beslan, Russia
- Coordinate precision
- City-level coordinate
- Actors named by the source record
- Chechen and Ingush militants; Russian security forces; children and civilians
- Verification state
- source-start-point; sensitive details require independent verification
Geographic context
A coordinate locator, not a surveyed event footprint
The submitted record supplies 43.1889, 44.5400 with the precision label “City-level coordinate.” Multi-location events, disputed borders, campaigns, and broad regions cannot be reduced to one point.
Review location and coordinate boundariesSource and verification boundary
This remains a starting-point record
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Citation and correction
Use the stable record ID and challenge individual propositions
A correction may concern the date, place, actors, attribution, legal status, figures, coordinate precision, source characterization, or why-pivotal summary without invalidating every other field.
2IA — International Intelligence Archive. “Beslan school siege.” World Events record 2004-003. Reviewed July 27, 2026. https://2ix.org/world-events/2004/2004-003/