The operation to free hostages in the Beslan school siege was full of "failures and shortcomings", says an official investigating the 2004 crisis.

Alexander Torshin, the man leading a federal parliamentary commission inquiry, gave parliament an update of his findings on Wednesday.
They contrast with a prosecutor's report released on Monday which said security forces had made no mistakes.


That had angered relatives of the 331 people who were killed at the school.
An earlier investigation by the local parliamentary commission had said the security services had been incompetent.


The investigations relate to the siege in the North Ossetian town in September 2004, when more than 330 people died when mines planted by the hostage-takers inside the school began to explode and police and troops stormed the building.