MOSCOW (AP) - Divers on Saturday finished cutting holes in three compartments of the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine to attach steel cables to be used to lift the vessel next month, officials said.

Meanwhile, families of the 118 men killed when the Kursk sank in the Barents Sea gathered in a northern Russian port to mark the first anniversary of the disaster. Several memorial events are scheduled for the Sunday anniversary, with the main service to be held in Vidyayevo, where the Kursk sailors were based.

A costly international operation is underway to raise most of the Kursk's wreckage, which Russian officials say could shed light on the disaster's cause. They also say it could comfort relatives by bringing the bodies of the loved ones from the sea bottom, though many relatives have said the submarine should be left alone.

Divers have been working for weeks on the Kursk to prepare it for lifting in mid-September.
Cables will be attached through the holes in the thick steel hull and used to lift the 18,000-ton vessel, which will then be towed to the port of Murmansk.

The front section of the submarine, which houses the torpedo compartment and was severely mangled in the disaster, will be cut off and left on the sea floor. Naval officials have said work on slicing off the front could begin Sunday.

Officials say the explosions that tore apart the Kursk, one of Russia's most advanced vessels, apparently were caused by a torpedo. But what prompted the torpedo explosion remains unclear. Many Russian officials have said it was likely a collision with a foreign vessel, but other observers say an internal malfunction was the most likely explanation.