Villagers flee shelling as fighting for capital intensifies

A DAY that dawned with the flash and roar of rockets and the incessant chatter of automatic gunfire ended with Russian tanks and troops facing off against Georgian forces on the territory of South Ossetia.

Phone calls to the tiny separatist region would not go through, and the reports that crept out of the conflict zone could not be confirmed. But Russian television pictures showing fusillades of rocket fire, missile launchers stationed in fields and columns of armoured vehicles rolling through villages gave a sense of the scale of the conflict.

A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency said "many buildings and houses have been destroyed and only military personnel are moving on the streets" of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, a province that is home to perhaps 40,000 people.

"Water is also in short supply - a chronic problem, worsened by recent events - most transport has stopped, and shops are running out of food," he added.

A representative for the International Red Cross said people were sheltering in basements without electricity or any means of communication with the outside world.

"Ambulances cannot move, hospitals are reported to be overflowing, surgery is taking place in corridors," she said.

As soldiers and heavy weaponry rolled into the area from all sides, South Ossetians fled northwards towards Russian-controlled North Ossetia, where many of them have relatives, and Georgians tried to move south towards Tbilisi-controlled territory.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva (50), who escaped Tskhinvali with her family and made for the Russian border. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

One South Ossetian girl, who gave her name as Maria, said she and fellow villagers had slept in a field as fighting escalated on Thursday night and into yesterday morning.

"I saw them [the Georgians] shelling my village," she said, as she made her way towards Russia.

Tbilisi and Moscow accused each other of bombing targets indiscriminately, as unidentified war aircraft were seen over Tskhinvali and, reportedly, air attacks damaged a Georgian airbase and Russian peacekeepers' unit, killing several people.

While Russia claimed to be defending its citizens in South Ossetia, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili compared the situation to the Soviet invasions of Afghanistan in 1979 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

He also claimed that his forces had shot down at least two Russian jets.

"One of the aircraft was specifically attacking a civilian hospital, wounding doctors and patients with no real purpose," he said.

As the United Nations, United States and major European powers called for an end to fighting last night, there seemed to be no let up in the battle for Tskhinvali, where Russian troops claimed to have driven back Georgian forces.

Last night, Russian Maj Gen Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of Russia's peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, said that, "as a result of many hours of shelling of Tskhinvali from heavy guns, the town has been practically destroyed".

"Fighting continues," he added.