Missile downs U.N. helicopter

A Russian model of the Mi-8 helicopter

TBILISI, Georgia -- A helicopter carrying U.N. military observers has been shot down in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The Mi-8 helicopter was seen exploding 15 minutes after it had left the airport at Abkhazian's capital Sukhumi, having been hit by a rocket, reports say.

It had been on an inspection flight to the Kodori gorge carrying up to 10 people, news agencies reported.

Vladimir Mikanba, Abkhazian's self-declared defence minister, said an investigation into the crash was under way.

The Associated Press reported that five of the people feared dead were U.N. military observers, while four were crew members, and a 10th was a translator. All the crew were Ukrainian, Abkhazian's deputy defence minister, Vyacheslav Ankvad, added.

But Reuters quoted Alexandra George, political affairs officer for the U.N. observer mission in Georgia, as saying nine people had been on board -- six U.N. personnel and three crew.

George added: "We can confirm that a helicopter was shot down by a missile."

Ankvad said that Abkhaz officials had witnessed two shots from a grenade-launcher.

The area has been the battleground for Abkhaz militia and Georgian troops.

Abkhazian officials say that a group of Chechen and ethnic Georgian rebels have invaded the gorge region in recent days, The Associated Press said.

Georgian government authorities say they have not been involved in reported skirmishes in the gorge, AP added.

U.N. observers have been deployed on the separation line between Georgia and Abkhazia, which declared its independence from Georgia in 1991, driving out government forces in 1993. Russia has a peacekeeping force in the area.

No attempt has been made to retrieve the helicopter casualties because of the mountainous terrain and fear of coming under attack.

A U.N. representative in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Dieter Boden, said a team of observers had been scheduled to resume monitoring the gorge on Monday.

The observation mission had been interrupted following the kidnapping of U.N. observers in the area in December.