Interior Minister: Police Repel Abkhaz ‘Saboteurs’ in Kodori

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told Rustavi 2 TV station that Georgian police had intercepted and opened fire on a platoon of Abkhaz special forces near a road under construction in Georgian-controlled Upper Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia.

According to the minister, two Abkhaz troopers were killed, and six captured. None carried identification documents. An investigation is under way, as Georgian police and Prosecutor’s Office officials gather in neighboring districts of western Georgia for an emergency meeting.

The interior minister suggested that the aim of the attack was to sabotage the road. It has, he said, strategic significance, given that it will, when completed, ensure an overland connection between Georgia proper and the gorge in winter time.

In contrast to the Georgian version of events, Abkhaz secessionist authorities claimed earlier that Georgian troops had attacked a conscript border guard training camp in the Tkvarcheli district of Abkhazia, bordering Kodori.

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