Putin sends prosecutors to Beslan

Six Russian prosecutors went to the southern town of Beslan on Monday after President Vladimir Putin ordered an investigation of all the facts in last year's bloody school hostage-taking, in which 331 people died.

The group, headed by Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov, was to meet with survivors and other residents of the town, including representatives of the Beslan Mothers' Committee, the Prosecutor General's office said.

The mothers' committee has been highly critical of the investigation so far, and Putin promised its representatives in a meeting last week that he would try to deal with their grievances, according to the AP.

"We will study all the materials, listen to all the claims," Kolesnikov said in televised comments after arriving at the airport in Beslan.

He said the investigators would examine allegations that tanks and flame-throwers were used inappropriately during the storming of the school, and would look at the responsibility of workers in the emergency response headquarters that directed the efforts to save the victims, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

He said the additional investigation could take between one and three months, RIA-Novosti and the Interfax news agency reported.