Probe Reportedly Backs Sokhumi over Deadly Clash
A joint monitoring operation by Russian peacekeepers and UN observers has discovered that the deadly September 20 clash occurred on Abkhaz-controlled territory, Sergey Chaban, the commander of the peacekeeping troops, said.
Two Abkhaz militiamen were killed, two injured and seven others captured by the Georgian side after the September 20 shootout. Sokhumi claimed that the clash occurred after a group of Georgian ?saboteurs? infiltrated its territory. Tbilisi, however, said the Abkhaz militiamen, on a sabotage mission, had been intercepted on Georgian-controlled territory.
?The clash occurred on the territory of Abkhazia, 700 meters from the administrative border between Abkhazia and Georgia,? RIA Novosti news agency quoted Chaban as saying, hence backing Sokhumi?s version of events.
No confirmation of this was, however, available from the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) at the time of writing this report.
