August 08, 2008	Friday	Sha’aban 5, 1429

TBILISI, Aug 7: Georgia on Thursday reported “large-scale battles” in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, with officials saying 23 people had been wounded in clashes in the volatile mountain province.

Russia and Georgia, meanwhile, traded accusations of aggression in South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and whose unrecognised government is supported by Moscow.

“Currently large-scale battles are under way near the village of Avnevi,” Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said, referring to a Georgian-controlled village in South Ossetia.

Three Georgian peacekeepers were wounded and an armoured personnel carrier destroyed near Avnevi, Utiashvili said, after a government spokeswoman said two Georgian servicemen had been hurt in a separate clash.

South Ossetian authorities said 18 people had been wounded by Georgian fire overnight in the region.

Russian news agencies said renewed artillery fire was heard in the separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Thursday afternoon, but Georgia denied shelling the city.

“No massive bombardment of Tskhinvali is taking place,” Utiashvili said.

In another sign of mounting tension, the head of South Ossetia’s Security Council, Anatoly Barankevich, told Russian television his forces had registered the “movement of heavy weaponry from the depths of Georgia to South Ossetia.” Utiashvili denied that Georgia had sent additional forces to the region.

Tensions have soared in South Ossetia since the rebels reported that six people had died in weekend shooting.

In recent months, Moscow and Tbilisi have sparred repeatedly over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.

Georgia’s pro-Western government accuses Moscow of seeking to annex the two regions and derail its efforts to join the transatlantic Nato alliance, which Russia vehemently opposes.

In the latest diplomatic exchanges, Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin accused Georgia of “military preparations” while a top Georgian official said Russia was fuelling the conflict by supplying arms.

Karasin said he was concerned by a Georgian military build-up, Russia’s foreign ministry statement said in a statement on Thursday.

In a conversation with rebel leader Eduard Kokoity, “concern was expressed at Georgian actions extremely close to Tskhinvali, which can be considered military preparations,” the statement said.

For its part, Georgia vowed to show restraint and blamed Moscow for the rise in tensions.

“Of course we will show maximum restraint, but we also urge all parties to halt provocations,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters in comments broadcast on Imedi radio.

“Russia is responsible for what is happening now in the conflict zone.

Because it’s not us who supply the arms for the separatists,” Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili said in a briefing.

Yakobashvili had been due to meet on Thursday with South Ossetian officials, but the meeting was called off, Interfax news agency reported, citing the commander of Russian peacekeepers in the region.

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon is alarmed by the rising violence in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia and urges the warring sides to refrain from any action that could further inflame the situation, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Ban “expresses serious concern about the mounting violence in South Ossetia. He urges the parties to refrain from any action that could further escalate the situation and threaten the stability of the region,” Michele Montas said in a statement.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday ordered Georgian forces to cease fire in South Ossetia and called for talks to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis. —AFP