Georgian territory 'shelled'

2008-10-06 12:04

Tbilisi - Georgian-controlled territory near the rebel region of Abkhazia was shelled overnight on Monday but no one was injured and there was no damage from the attack, the interior ministry said.

Four mortar attacks were carried out in unpopulated areas near the village of Pakhulani close to the de facto border with Abkhazia, interior ministry spokesperson Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

A roadside bomb also exploded in the region, on a road leading to a strategic power station on the Enguri River, he said.

"None of these explosions have caused any injury or damage. We are looking into who might be behind the explosions," he said.

The incidents highlighted tensions in Georgia ahead of an expected pull-back by Russian forces after the August war over another separatist region, South Ossetia.

Following the deployment of EU observers last week, Russian forces are expected to withdraw from buffer zones around the two separatist regions by Friday.

The Russian military dismantled its first checkpoint under the pull-back plan on Sunday and began taking down others.

Tbilisi and EU monitors had said two more checkpoints were due to be dismantled on Monday, but an AFP correspondent on the scene said the checkpoints remained in place.

Russian forces pushed into Georgia in early August to repel a Georgian military effort to regain control of South Ossetia.

Moscow said it was protecting Russian citizens there from Georgian aggression, but Tbilisi accused it of having provoked the conflict in order to cement control over the region and destabilise its pro-Western government.

Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent on August 26 and intends to keep troops there.

- AFP