Reports: Chechens, Not Georgians Killed in S.Ossetia Clash

The South Ossetian side has announced that its militiamen killed four Chechen militants in a clash early on October 31 in the Java district of the breakaway region.

Earlier on October 31 the South Ossetian side said it was a squad of Georgian saboteurs.

The Russian state-run television station Rossiya showed footage from the alleged scene of clash. The footage showed a corpse, explosives, Kalashnikov assault rifles and a book, described by the presenter as ?Wahhabism literature.?

?Now we are trying to find out the identities of these criminals,? Nikolai Dolgopolov, chief of the South Ossetian security service, told the Russian television reporters.

The South Ossetian side claims that Chechen militants infiltrated the region from a Georgian-controlled area.

Officials in Tbilisi dismissed the report as ?disinformation.?

Administration of the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues said in a statement that the ?pre-election hysteria reached its peak? in breakaway South Ossetia and has led to the?dissemination of totally false information.?

Secessionist authorities in breakaway region are holding an independence referendum and presidential elections on November 12.

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