Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has threatened to launch more terrorist attacks in the Caucasus. These attacks will be in support of Islamic radicals who, like Basayev, want to establish an Islamic Republic in the Caucasus, and eventually throughout Russia. Islamic radicalism appeals to a small minority in the mainly Moslem Caucasus. But it only takes a few thousand armed militants to cause widespread terror and disorder in the entire region.

The government says that five of the 17 identified Beslan terrorists were from Arab countries.