More evidence in Kulayev case

At today's hearing of the Beslan terrorist act case, Aslan Persayev, a 10th form pupil who had been taken hostage in school No 1, told the court that gunmen were shooting in the backs of running children on 3 September, says Interfax.

"When I got out the school, I wasn't able to recover myself for a while, both my ear-drums had burst, that is, I actually did not hear anything. But I saw children running and they all fell down on the ground at one moment. I began to look for where the shot had come from, I thought that our guys were shooting. I looked towards the five-storey houses, but there was no one there. Then I saw two gunmen on the second floor of the school. They were shooting children in the street," Aslan Persayev said during his interrogation.

According to him, he heard gunmen's conversations allowing one to conclude that they had had no common demands from the very beginning. "Some said that they wanted their friends to be released from prisons, others said that they wanted to see the four presidents, and still others - that they wanted nothing," said Persayev.

He told that a friend of his who was together with him in the captured school had seen Mr Kulayev's brother. "My friend said he had seen Kulayev's brother when they had been driven into the canteen. The man was standing near the window shooting outside," Aslan said.

• Bodies glowing