Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Russia to Increase Peacekeepers After S. Ossetia Shootings


Created: 30.07.2004 10:28 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:45 MSK, 1 hour 55 minutes ago


MosNews

Russia has decided to increase its peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone between Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia after Georgian forces opened fire early Friday morning on a number of residential areas in the capital Tskhinvali, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reports.

“After the shooting in Tskhinvali at night and in the early morning a decision has been made to increase the number of peacekeeping posts in the region by at least three or four,” a source in the Combined Peacekeeping Forces headquarters was quoted as saying.

The peacekeeping forces command is being briefed on the situation, he said, and commander Svyatoslav Nabzdorov will issue the final decision soon.

Georgia and its breakaway province of South Ossetia exchanged fire on Friday, and both accused the other of targeting civilian areas including the residential quarters of the regional capital Tskhinvali.

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity earlier told the Interfax news agency that Georgian troops shelled Tskhinvali and several pro-separatist villages, populated by ethnic Ossetians, with guns and mortars for two hours. He said that after the shelling, which went on into early Friday, Georgian forces tried to enter Tskinvali, but were stopped by local militia.

The South Ossetian leader told Interfax that four people had been injured in the shootings.

Tension in the small region on the Russian border has grown recently since Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili made restoring central authority over all Georgia a priority. But the South Ossetia region is resisting efforts to end its 12-year-old self-proclaimed independence, and has insisted on joining Russia and reuniting with Russia’s North Ossetia.



http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/07/30/ossetiashooting.shtml