Three Dead as Fighting Resumes in South Ossetian
Three more Georgian soldiers have been killed and at least four others injured during an overnight battle near the village of Eredvi in breakaway South Ossetia.
Fresh fighting erupted late on August 17, just hours after the Georgian and South Ossetian sides agreed on a ceasefire.
During the talks in Tbilisi the two sides also agreed to pull out extra troops from the conflict zone; however, after this latest renewal of fighting, Georgian officials said no troops will be withdrawn from the breakaway region.
?Of course we will not pull out our troops after what has happened,? Giorgi Baramidze, the Georgian Defense Minister, told Rustavi 2 television.
The Georgian power ministers held overnight consultations with President Saakashvili amid the renewed clashes in South Ossetia.
The South Ossetian side accused Tbilisi of opening fire. Interfax news agency quoted Ibragim Gasiyev, South Ossetian de facto Deputy Defense Minister, as saying that Georgian artillery fired on the Ossetian villages of Sarabuk and Prisi.
The most recen ceasefire and demilitarization agreement reached in Tbilisi on August 17 was the second one in a week, both of which turned out to be short-lived.
