Pope Meets With Beslan Survivors

Memorial to a victim of the hostage crisis in Beslan (file photo) (official site) 11 January 2006 -- Pope Benedict has met with a group of 30 children who survived the 2004 hostage crisis in the Russian city of Beslan.

The children attended a 90-minute public audience with the pope at the Vatican as part of a weeklong visit to Italy. After the audience, the children had a private meeting with the pope.

The children are survivors of a three-day assault in September 2004 on a school in Beslan, during which 331 people -- most of them children -- were killed either by terrorists or during the rescue operation.

(AP)