Georgian separatists evacuate children amid claims of troop attacks on civilians

GEORGIA:SEPARATISTS IN Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia said yesterday that they had evacuated about 1,000 children to Russia after Georgian forces used mortars and snipers against civilian targets.

Georgia denied launching any such attacks, and blamed South Ossetian militia for starting clashes on Friday and Saturday which prompted Russia to warn that all-out war could return to a region that fought free from Tbilisi's control in a bloody 1991-92 conflict.

South Ossetia said Georgian troops had killed six people and injured 15 others with sniper fire and mortars. Tbilisi insisted it had only returned fire on rebel militia who wounded six Georgian police and nine civilians in bomb and gun attacks.

Irina Gagloyeva, spokeswoman for the South Ossetian government, said about 1,000 children had been taken by bus to North Ossetia, a neighbouring Russian region with which South Ossetia wants to unite.

"It's very tense here now. We are used to sporadic firing but this was far worse than usual in both duration and intensity," Ms Gagloyeva told The Irish Timesfrom the tiny separatist capital of Tskhinvali.

"We know that Georgia is moving troops and armour towards us. This is further evidence that Georgia is planning a military solution to the situation."

Georgia's interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili denied any troop movements and said fighting had been sparked by a South Ossetian bomb attack on a Georgian police vehicle and mortar and gunfire aimed at Georgian villages in the breakaway province.

"We are calling on the Ossetians to de-escalate tensions," he said by telephone from Tbilisi.

The clashes came after weeks of occasional deadly gunfire, bomb blasts and other incidents, which stoked tension. Last month, Russia flew four fighter jets over South Ossetia in a mission that it claimed dissuaded Georgia from launching a major military assault on the region.

Tbilisi accuses Moscow of supporting the separatists in the hope of annexing the territory, destabilising Georgia and wrecking the former Soviet republic's bid to join Nato.

Russia has given citizenship to most residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia, and pledged to defend its citizens if major conflict occurs. It also regularly accuses Tbilisi of planning to re-take control of both areas by force.

"Despite various declarations by the Georgian leadership on the need for urgent measures to reduce tension, in practice Tbilisi's actions undermine these declarations," said Russia's foreign ministry.