Commission head: Law enforcement helped Beslan gang
By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty
 |  Man carries child after special forces stormed siege school. |
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 Footage taken by hostage takers inside the school gym.
 Thousands of Russians rally against terrorism in Moscow.
 Political fallout over the attack hurts Putin.
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian law enforcement officials allegedly helped terrorists to carry out last September's school massacre in Beslan, Russia, that left 344 people dead, according to the head of a special parliamentary commission.
Alexander Torshin, the head of the commission investigating the fatal hostage taking, told Russian media that two accomplices already have been detained, three are being sought and authorities are preparing the legal work to detain two more.
Torshin said the suspects included officials ranking "higher than major."
Another Senator who is a member of the commission, Vladimir Kulakov, added that the people who aided the terrorists are not only in Beslan but "at the federal level" and "these people are still at their jobs."
He did not identify the officials by name. His comments were quoted by Interfax news agency.
The commission has been investigating the Beslan massacre for months. It is expected to release its report this spring.
Analysts say the news is not surprising since, shortly after the hostage-taking was over, Russian officials announced that a local policeman had been arrested for "complicity" in the attack.
It is not clear whether that policeman is one of those described by Alexander Torshin.
The hostage taking began on the morning of September 1, the opening of the school year, as 32 heavily armed terrorists took over School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia, a region near the war-torn southern Russian republic of Chechnya.
More than 1,200 people, including students, teachers and parents, were held in abysmal conditions in the school's gymnasium for nearly three days. The hostage-taking ended when one of the bombs placed by the terrorists in the gymnasium exploded.
Hostages tried to flee as the roof collapsed and a fire broke out. As Russian security forces opened fire, the terrorists shot many fleeing hostages in the back. The reason for the initial explosion still is not known.
President Vladimir Putin initially rejected calls for a public investigation along the lines of the United States' 9/11 commission but, under public pressure, relented.
