120 Funerals Today

Rain poured down on the people of Beslan Monday as they buried more children and marked the first of two national days of mourning for the victims of a school massacre.

About 120 funerals were scheduled for Monday alone in the stricken town of 30,000 people.

Officials have told gravediggers in the southern Russian town to be ready for 600 bodies, though the official death count still stands at about 335 children and adults. That doesn't include 30 of the armed militants who had taken them hostage and were killed by security officials as the siege ended.

Planes from Italy and the United States delivered extra medical supplies to deal with about 400 injured adults and children, many of whom are fighting for their lives.

About a third of the hostage-takers were reported to be Arabs. Militant Islamic groups have long been sympathetic to Chechen rebels' push to obtain independence from Moscow for the republic, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.

On Monday, Russia's foreign minister said he welcomed an offer by Israel to share its counter-terrorism expertise to combat further Chechen attacks.

One-sixth of Israel's population consists of emigrants from the former Soviet Union, so the school massacre has great resonance there.