Angry Putin rules out talks with Chechens

Chechen students hold posters reading "No terrorism" and "Chechen youth against terrorism" during an anti-terrorism rally in the Chechen capital Grozny yesterday. A total of 338 people, half of them children, are confirmed dead, and more than 400 former hostages, including 225 children, remain in hospital. PHOTO: AFP

"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?" Putin was quoted yesterday by Britain's Guardian newspaper as saying.

"You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?" Putin told foreign journalists and academics late on Monday, as he ruled out a public inquiry.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators waving banners and flags gathered in Red Square in a show of unity against terrorism as the country mourned the hundreds of victims of a hostage-taking at a school in southern R}ssia.

At least 100,000 people joined the Moscow rally yesterday to denounce terrorism, bolstering Putin against critics of the authorities' handling of the bloody siege.

The European Union has long advocated a political solution to the 10-year separatist war in Chechnya, which has left the tiny province in tatters.

The southern town of Beslan buried more of the 338 people -- half of them children -- killed during a chaotic operation to free them from captors demanding independence for Chechnya.

The ruins of School No.1, where more than 1,000 hostages were held for 53 hours last week, has turned into a memorial, where funeral processions stop on their way to a new cemetery for the victims and where people come to lay flowers.

"I saw little ones die," said hospital nurse Svetlana in Beslan. "I {aw them come in covered in blood. They were babies.

"Why did this happen to us? If people cared about each other a bit more and did not have to struggle like we do every day, we might have been able to stop the terrorists."

Anti-terrorism rallies, which started on Monday to accompany the two days of official mourning for the victims of the Beslan siege, will climax in a massive event outside the Kremlin.

Television newscasts and slick advertisements featuring cultural and sports personalities have been promoting the rally, and media quoted city police as saying they expected at least 100,000 people to take part.