Georgia reports new air attack near capital
Intense fighting reportedly raged for a second night in Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia on Saturday and Georgia's interior ministry reported air attacks on three military bases.
By Agencies |
GEORGIA: Intense fighting reportedly raged for a second night in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia today and Georgia's interior ministry reported air attacks on three military bases and key facilities for shipping oil to the West.
Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by warplanes during the night and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
He also said two other Georgian military bases were hit and that warplanes bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.
Utiashvili said there apparently were significant casualties and damage in the attacks, but that further details would not be known until the morning.
Russia dispatched an armored column into South Ossetia yesterday after Georgia, a staunch US ally, launched a surprise offensive to crush separatists. Witnesses said hundreds of civilians were killed.
The fighting, which devastated the capital of Tskhinvali, threatened to ignite a wider war between Georgia and Russia, and escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington. Georgia said it was forced to launch the assault because of rebel attacks; the separatists alleged Georgia violated a cease-fire.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged." The Interfax news agency cited the commander of Russian peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying Georgian artillery fired on Tskhinvali heavily early today, but stopped after sometime.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
