Georgian officials have already classified a car explosion outside the police department in the town of Gori as a terrorist act. According to the official reports an explosion killed three policemen and injured more than ten people – both policeman and bystanders. Gori explosion is the last and most serious in the series of attacks that targeted Georgian police all over the country.
On January 31 an unidentified gunmen wounded two Georgian policemen on duty in Western Georgian Zugdidi district, bordering Abkhazia. One of the wounded died in hospital later. The same day, one policeman died and another was injured as a result of a car accident near Gori, as the police patrol was chasing a car suspected of smuggling.
Last week, Georgian border guards and financial police have clashed with the residents of South Georgian villages, who were allegedly smuggling goods and oil from Azerbaijan. Several protesters and the policemen were injured.
It seems logical to consider the Gori incident in line with overall backlash at the police, due to anti-smuggling operations they undertake.
Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, who arrived in Gori, said “90-100 kilos of plastic explosive and TNT went off, presumably, by remote control.”
Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili also said that it was “a well-organized terrorist act.” However, officials can not yet pinpoint any concrete motive behind this explosion.
“We have number of versions about possible motives and about those who could have been behind the explosion,” Chief of the Investigation Department of the Interior Ministry Mamuka Mujiri said.
Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili and Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili have made only general statements, clearly unable to name any possible suspects yet.
Gori is located about 90 km away from the capital Tbilisi and is the largest town in the Shida Kartli region, which officially also includes the Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. The town is less than 30 km away from the South Ossetian conflict zone, which became the scene of sporadic armed clashes between Georgian troops and Ossetian militias last August. One of the main reasons of the clashes, the Georgian government argued, was the pressure that the South Ossetian authorities and the smuggling gangs suffered due to the closure of the notorious Ergneti smuggling goods market between Gori and Tskhinvali, South Ossetian capital.
But despite its nearby location to the conflict zone, Gori has remained relatively calm. Some minor incidents were reported in 2003: two actors were injured in a blast in June, 2003 near the Gori Theater. But it was unclear whether that explosion was an attack aimed at the theater staff. Another explosion also occurred in June, 2003, when local opposition activist claimed that a hand-grenade went off in his backyard, causing no injuries.
An incident in near Abkhazia on January 31 was, officials argued, linked to smuggling. They say an attack on the Georgian police was spearheaded by the smuggling gang, which includes both ethnic Georgians and the Abkhaz. Governor of Samegrelo district, where incident took place, said the new police checkpoints present a serious obstacle to the smugglers.
Georgian media speculated that incidents in South Georgia, were triggered by re-shuffling of the customs and police cadre. The officers previously stationed on the border with Azerbaijan, journalists argue, cut deals with smugglers. Hence, the decision was taken to regularly rotate the police and customs officers.
But in Gori, the situation is slightly different, which might render the link to smuggling dubious, or far from the official view. Recently, the Governor of Shida Kartli Mikheil Kareli, as well as the head of the local police Sukhitashvili came under criticism of their political opponents for violation of the rights of citizens, fabrication of evidence and, also, partaking in smuggling.
Both Kareli and Sukhitashvili are characterized by hard-line approach towards de facto South Ossetian authorities, and frequently advocated military solution to the conflict. Recently, Gori police has arrested alleged influential Ossetian criminal Oleg Pukhaev, which led to reciprocal kidnappings in the conflict zone.
Thus Gori residents, common criminals, and South Ossetian de facto authorities all might have a grudge against Sukhitashvili who was, allegedly, a target of today’s attack. Only transparent investigation would show who has planted the bomb, and whether today’s incident was an isolated event, or the first in the line of criminal retaliations against the police.
