Tbilisi Denies Georgian Forces Engaged in S.Ossetia Shooting

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava denied on Friday that Georgian Defense Ministry forces were engaged in a shootout which occurred in the South Ossetian conflict zone early on December 2.

?I rule out participation of the Georgian forces in this incident. I think it was a clash between the local [Ossetian] armed groups,? Giorgi Khaindrava told reporters on December 2.

According to the South Ossetian side four groups of the Georgian Defense Ministry forces with five servicemen in each attempted to take over a checkpoint on the road near the Ossetian village of Zari, north-west of South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali early on December 2. According to the breakaway regions? Defense Ministry, the Georgian forces had to retreat after a response fire, injuring unspecified number of the Georgian servicemen.

This road is of strategic importance for the South Ossetian side, as it bypasses Georgian villages in the north of Tskhinvali and enables to reach the South Ossetian stronghold Java in the north without passing the Georgian villages.

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity alleged on December 2 that this attack by the Georgian forces could have been aimed at his life. He said that he planned to travel through the road, where the incident occurred. ?I am sure that I was a target of this attack,? Interfax news agency quoted Eduard Kokoity.

But the Georgian State Minister denied these allegations as groundless. ?If we wanted to do this we would have managed better, but we have nothing like this on mind, as we are committed to peaceful resolution of the conflict,? he told reporters.

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