ceasefire - death - Georgia - shootings - violence
Forces in Georgia re-arm amid shattered ceasefire
Friday 04 July 2008
Both national and separatist forces have mobilised their reservist forces in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia after three people were killed in a heavy overnight shootout. Neither side admitted being the first to violate the ceasefire.
Friday 04 July 2008
By AFPRead France 24's Robert Parson's analysis: "Business as usual"
Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia on Friday ordered a "general mobilisation" of its forces after three people were killed in heavy shelling, and threatened to retaliate in kind.
"A general mobilisation has been declared," said Irina Gagloyeva, a spokeswoman for the separatist government. "If the shelling resumes, South Ossetia will respond with heavy weaponry.
Georgian forces launched a large-scale attack on the region overnight, she said, firing from three directions with mortars, grenade launchers and small arms.
Three people were killed and 10 wounded, she said.
On Thursday, the separatists had blamed Georgian special forces for a bomb attack that killed a South Ossetian police chief outside his home.
South Ossetia has accused Tbilisi of preparing to retake the rebel region, which broke away from central control during a war in the early 1990s.
Gagloyeva said the general mobilisation was an unusual step that had not been taken since similar shelling in the spring of last year. She alleged that Georgia has also been massing tanks near the region in recent days.
Fighting in the region, a patchwork of Ossetian and Georgian settlements in the mountainous north of the country, generally intensifies during the summer months.
Tensions over South Ossetia and another separatist Georgian region, Abkhazia, have soared since Moscow announced earlier this year that it was establishing formal ties with the regions' rebel governments.
Tbilisi accuses Russia of seeking to annex the two territories and derail its efforts to join the NATO military alliance. Russia in turn accuses Georgia of preparing to take back the breakaway regions by force.
Abkhazia closed its border with the rest of Georgia earlier this week after 10 people were wounded in a string of explosions the rebels blamed on Tbilisi.
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