Russian Chief Peacekeeper Comments on Air Raid

An aircraft fired a rocket after coming under fire from the South Ossetian militia on August 6, Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the conflict zone, said.

Georgia claims that two Russian attack aircraft, presumably SU-24s, violated Georgia’s airspace and one of them fired an air-to-surface guided rocket onto Georgian territory in the vicinity of breakaway South Ossetia.

Kulakhmetov, however, said the aircraft came from Georgian territory and returned using the same route.

?The aircraft came into the conflict zone from the east. Then it turned in a southwest direction . Over the village of Gromi it came under fire from the South Ossetian side. This, it seems, scared the pilot and caused him to fire a rocket and then went to the north east. According to local residents, the plane then flew in an eastern direction from where it came,? Kulakhmetov told RIA Novsoti news agency.

He also said that it was not yet clear what type of rocket had been fired.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)