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64 Russian soldiers killed
20/08/2008 19:04 - (SA)
Moscow - A top Russian general said on Wednesday that 64 of the country's soldiers were killed in this month's fighting with Georgia and 323 were wounded.
The figure given by Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the general staff, reduces the fatality toll from the initial figure of 74 but substantially raises the number of wounded. Russia previously had said about 170 were wounded.
Nogovitsyn said no Russian soldiers were missing, but an official of the Russian prosecutor-general's investigative committee said Wednesday that about 200 servicemen are considered missing in the conflict, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Earlier this month, Georgia cracked down on the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, which is aligned with Moscow and wants independence. Russia responded by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border.
Georgian officials have said they lost 160 soldiers and that 300 are missing. Russia claims Georgian losses are much higher.
Civilian casualties remain unclear. South Ossetian officials on Wednesday said 1 492 civilians in the breakaway province had been killed.
The prosecutor's office official, Dmitry Shalkov, said 133 civilian deaths in South Ossetia had been confirmed, but said the figure could not be considered complete because many victims already had been buried.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that it is assisting four hospitals caring for about 1 000-war wounded people in Georgia proper, without saying whether they are soldiers or civilians.
- AP
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