Tbilisi Says Blast in Tskhinvali a Provocation

A blast in the breakaway South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, which injured one man, was yet another provocation staged by the secessionist authorities, Georgian officials said on September 7.

The unrecognized republic?s security services said that a 24-year-old local resident and law enforcement agent, had been injured after an improvised explosive device hidden in a mobile phone went off early on September 7. The victim, Igor Kokoev, according to the report, found the phone on the ground. After hearing it ring, he tried to pick it up, whereupon it exploded.

The South Ossetian secessionist authorities said it was a terrorist act masterminded by the Georgian side as part of its drive to destabilize the situation on the eve of the celebration of the unrecognized republic?s independence day on September 20.

?They always blame us for everything,? Davit Kezerashvili, the Georgian defense minister, said on September 7. ?And as usual, they [the authorities in Tskhinvali] are talking rubbish.?

?The authorities in Tskhinvali, as usual, are disseminating disinformation,? Davit Bakradze, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, told Mze TV. ?The Georgian state has never been, is not and will never be, engaged in terrorist acts.?

?We should expect more provocations of this kind because the countdown for Kokoity?s regime has been started,? Nika Rurua, the deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said. ?I do not think we should pay much attention to these provocations.?

Also on Friday, the South Ossetian secessionist authorities alleged that at least one Georgian army helicopter had flown over the South Ossetian-controlled village of Tsinagari in the early hours of September 7.

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