Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for this month's hostage-taking at a Russian school, in which at least 339 died, and for four other terrorist attacks in recent weeks, according to a rebel Web site.

In a statement on Kavkazcenter.com, Basayev blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the tragic end to the hostage-taking in Beslan in the southern republic of North Ossetia.

``A terrible tragedy occurred in the town of Beslan,'' Basayev said. ``The Kremlin vampire destroyed and wounded 1,000 children and adults, after giving the order to storm the school out of imperial ambitions and a desire to hang on to his seat.''

The three-day siege ended on Sept. 3 when Russian troops stormed the school after the hostage-takers fired on children escaping through a hole in a wall caused by the detonation of explosives, the Russian government said.

An unsigned preamble on the Web site said Kavkazcenter.com had received Basayev's statement by e-mail early yesterday and had decided to post it today because of the need ``to shed light on these tragic events.''

Basayev, a former Chechen prime minister now seeking to establish Islamic rule in Chechnya. said his ``Riyadus Salikhin Martyrs' Brigade'' had accomplished ``a row of successful combat operations on the territory of Russia.''

Attacks

He listed these as a bomb-blast at a Moscow bus-stop on Aug. 24, explosions aboard two airliners the same day that killed 89 people, a suicide-bombing outside the Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow on Aug. 31, in which 10 people died and 33 were injured, and Beslan on Sept. 1 ``under the command of Colonel Orstkhoyev.''

The Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, last week offered a reward of 300 million roubles ($10.3 million) for information leading to the arrest of Basayev and former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, whom it also blames for the Beslan siege. Maskhadov has denied any involvement.

Major-General Ilya Shabalkin, the chief Russian counter- terrorist officer in the North Caucasus region, said the Beslan operation and the other attacks last month were organized by Basayev with Maskhadov's knowledge, Interfax reported.

``We've known for a while that Basayev was behind these terrorist acts,'' Interfax cited Shabalkin as saying. ``We are surprised by the media's excited reaction to the statement about this on the bandits' Web site.''

`Good Guy, Bad Guy'

Even if Maskhadov wasn't directly involved, he ``was aware of the planned terrorist acts,'' Shabalkin told Interfax. ``He and Basayev are on the same council and act according to the well- known principle of a good guy and a bad guy. Maskhadov is the good guy and Basayev the bad guy.''

Basayev called in his statement for an inquiry into the Beslan tragedy by the United Nations and the European Union and ``all those who spoke out with a one-sided judgment of our actions. We are prepared to offer all cooperation for the investigation into this event and give practically any information.'' Putin has so far opposed a public inquiry.

Basayev said the Russian troops' assault in Beslan had been planned from the beginning of the hostage-taking. Putin said at the time that it had not been planned and was provoked by the terrorists shooting at children. Putin said the terrorists were linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

On Monday, Putin announced a series of measures to strengthen security, including the direct nomination of regional governors by the Kremlin, replacing the current system of gubernatorial elections.

Boris Yeltsin, 73, Putin's predecessor as president, criticized Putin's reaction in an interview published by Moscow News today.

`Strangling' Freedom

``The strangling of freedoms, the rolling back of democratic rights -- this can only mean that the terrorists won,'' the newspaper cited Yeltsin as saying.

The Beslan hostage-takers, numbering more than 30, called for an end to the war in Chechnya, begun when Putin, as Yeltsin's prime minister, sent in troops in 1999 after Chechen rebels tried to establish an Islamic republic in neighboring Dagestan and were blamed for a series of bombings of apartment blocks in Russia.

Only one of the Beslan hostage-takers, a man named as Kulayev and said to be from Ingushetia, another republic in the Caucasus, was taken alive and shown on Russian television.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julian Nundy in Paris at jnundy@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 17, 2004 06:41 EDT