Anti-balaka militia originally sprang up to protect the Christian population of the Central African Republic, but now stand accused of human rights abuses themselves. Last month, the African Union branded militia targeting Muslims in Central African Republic as “terrorists” and said they would be treated as enemy combatants, a day after killing a Congolese peacekeeper and amid deepening international frustration at continuing violence in the impoverished and landlocked country. Photo: A female member of the anti-balaka, a Christian militia, patrols with other militiamen outside village of Zawa April 8, 2014. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

On September 1, 2004, Chechen militants stormed an elementary school in the town of Beslan in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. They took 1,100 teachers, children, and their relatives hostage, demanding the withdrawal of federal forces from Chechnya as a condition for their release. On September 3, 2004, Russian security forces stormed the building, resulting in a battle in which more than 330 hostages died, including 186 children. Here: A man assists two young hostages who managed to escape from the school building after special forces entered the school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Friday 03 September 2004. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA)