North Ossetia is a mainly Christian Orthodox republic at the center of the North Caucasus region of Russia. Sadly, it is best known for the Beslan hostage siege in September 2004, when a team of 32 Islamist militants took 1,100 pupils, teachers and parents hostage at the town's School Number One. The siege ended in two explosions, a fire and a gunfight which left almost 400 people dead. Today, the memory of the siege has barely faded in Beslan, and the terrible events of almost seven years ago remain an engine of grief, fear and prejudice.