Georgian village set ablaze
2008-10-02 19:40
Tbilisi - A Georgian official said South Ossetia militia raided a village in the Russian-controlled buffer zone and set buildings on fire on Thursday. No injuries were reported.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Shota Utiashvili said the attack occurred in Kere, in the buffer zone Russia established around the breakaway South Ossetia region following the brief war between Russia and Georgia.
The raid could not be independently confirmed, but an AP Television News crew saw ambulances and fire trucks heading toward the village.
European Union monitors, however, reached the "preliminary" conclusion that the fire was not conflict-related, said mission spokesperson Juri Laas. The monitors began patrolling the buffer zone on Wednesday.
Adding to the confusion, the AP crew, at a Russian checkpoint just outside the buffer zone, also saw people driving away from Kere who yelled out their car windows that South Ossetia militia were approaching the village.
Kere is home to 300 families, but it is not clear how many remained there after the August war.
Numerous Georgian villages have been burned or raided since Russian troops invaded South Ossetia and took control of surrounding Georgian territory.
- AP