Moscow ? In the month before the Beslan school siege in which 331 hostages were killed last year, Russian security services received intelligence that terrorists might try to seize a school in the region on the first day of classes, but instructions for tightened security were ignored, according to preliminary findings of a parliamentary investigation released Wednesday.

Although the Russian Interior Ministry sent warning telegrams to regional authorities, the investigation found, only a single unarmed policewoman was stationed outside Beslan’s School No. 1 when at least 32 terrorists stormed it on Sept. 1, 2004. She was taken hostage, too.

Citing numerous failings by local and regional officials before the attack, the report found “negligence and carelessness in facing a real terrorist threat.”

Overall, the report faulted local officials, leading to some criticism that it whitewashed mistakes by high-level members of the government of President Vladimir Putin.

During the crisis, command centers at the scene were in constant contact with Moscow.