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Five explosions rock Georgia conflict zone

Georgian officials said there were five explosions near the de-facto border between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia yesterday, in the latest sign of growing tensions between Tbilisi and separatists.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 00:02 July 7, 2008
  • Gulf News

Tbilisi: Georgian officials said there were five explosions near the de-facto border between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia yesterday, in the latest sign of growing tensions between Tbilisi and separatists.

A series of incidents in the past week, involving bombs, mortar shelling and shootouts have been matched by sharp condemnations from Moscow and Tbilisi, as both sides blame each other for thawing what had been frozen conflicts.

Russian support

Georgia's rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from central rule during wars in the 1990s and are flashpoints for tensions with Russia, which provides financial support and has peacekeepers in both.

"Four mines exploded today in the morning nearby to a village called Rukhi, in Georgia's Zubdidi region," Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said.

The fourth explosion went off under a police car when local officers were investigating the site after the initial blasts, though no one was injured, Utiashvili said.

Georgian TV showed the bomb-damaged car and policemen standing nearby at the scene.

The fifth bomb went off at another village, also close to the de facto frontier with Abkhazia, with no injuries there either, Utiashvili said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Saturday to refrain from "stoking tensions" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Medvedev's message to Saakashvili followed a shootout in South Ossetia and a bomb blast in Abkhazia. Tbilisi accuses Moscow of seeking to annex the regions.

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