3 Georgians die in fierce fighting
TBILISI, Georgia -- At least three Georgian servicemen have been killed and seven wounded in rebel South Ossetia as the central government in Tbilisi tries to bring the breakaway ethnic region back under government control.
The fighting was described by officials Thursday as some of the fiercest in recent weeks. They said government forces had captured a strategic area held by Ossetian separatists.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Thursday his forces had won control of strategic heights near the regional capital of the breakaway South Ossetia region after battling separatists.
"We are ready to hand over the control over these heights to the peacekeeping force, which includes Georgians," said Saakashvili in a televised address to the nation.
As he spoke, Russian news agencies reported that heavy fighting continued for control of the strategic high ground near Tskhinvali and that Georgian forces had begun shelling the northern fringes of the town itself.
The turmoil in South Ossetia, perched mostly 1000 ft above sea level in the Caucasus mountains along the border with Russia, has drawn fierce criticism from Moscow -- seen by Georgia as siding with the Ossetians, an ethnic group descended from tribes in Iran.
"According to updated information, three of our soldiers died in the firing overnight, and seven were wounded," Aleko Kiknadze, commander of Georgian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, told Reuters. Earlier, another official estimated six had died.
The fighting has continued despite a cease-fire agreed last Friday and Western states are watching for any widening of the violence that could affect a pipeline due to supply them with Caspian oil from next year.
Aslan Elbakiyev, a spokesman for South Ossetia's separatist government, told The Associated Press that Georgian forces fired on the provincial center, Tskhinvali, in the most violent barrage in days. There was no immediate report on casualties, he said.
 Saakashvili ordered an offensive against militants in South Ossetia |  |
Tensions in South Ossetia, which broke away from the central government in 1992 following an 18-month war that killed hundreds, have flared up since the January election of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has pledged to unite the country.
Saakashvili Tuesday appealed to world leaders to help convene an international conference on South Ossetia and deploy Western peacekeepers to the province.
Russia, which is wary of broader Western involvement in ex-Soviet Georgia, scoffed at Saakashvili's call.
Despite persistent fighting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted Wednesday that the existing peacekeeping force -- in which Russia is the only foreign presence -- and a panel of negotiators from the conflicting parties are getting the job done.
Georgian officials have accused Russian peacekeepers of siding with the separatists in South Ossetia, and protested the deployment of Cossacks and other Russian mercenaries to the province.
While Russia says it recognizes Georgia's borders, most South Ossetians have been given Russian passports and many want the region to become part of Russia.
For many years the Ossetians have had good relations with Russians and have traditionally been regarded as loyal citizens, first of Russia under the Tzars and later as part of the Soviet Union.
Descended from tribes in central Asia, they speak a variety of Farsi. The majority are Christian but there is a significant Muslim minority.
They sided with Moscow when Bolshevik forces occupied Georgia in the 1920s. Later the South Ossetian Autonomous Region was created in Georgia and North Ossetia was formed in Russia.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
