Russian troops raid Georgian town; scores dead

Saturday, Aug. 09, 2008

Russian troops raid Georgian town; scores dead

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILIAPGORI, Georgia Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into theseparatist province of South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns Saturdayin a major escalation of the conflict that has left scores of civiliansdead and wounded.Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, launched a major offensive Friday toretake control of breakaway South Ossetia. Russia, which has close tiesto the province and posts peacekeepers there, responded by sending inarmed convoys and military combat aircraft.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow thatsome 1,500 people have been killed, with the death toll rising Saturday.The figure could not be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fledthe fighting said hundreds of civilians had probably died. They saidmost of the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, was in ruins, with bodieslying everywhere.The air and artillery bombardment left the provincial capital withoutwater, food, electricity and gas. Horrified civilians crawled out of thebasements into the streets as fighting eased, looking for supplies.Russian Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev claimed in televised comments Saturdaythat Russian troops had driven Georgian forces out of the provincialcapital. Witnesses confirmed that there was no sign of Georgian soldiersin the streets.Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed a cease-fire Saturday.As part of his proposal, Georgian troops were pulled out of Tskhinvaliand had been ordered to stop responding to Russian shelling, saidAlexander Lomaia, secretary of his Security Council.Russia did not immediately respond to Saakashvili's proposal. RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev had said earlier that Moscow sent troops intoSouth Ossetia to force Georgia into a cease-fire.

Lomaia said there had been direct fighting between Russian and Georgian soldiers on the streets of Tskhinvali. He estimated that Russia sent2,500 troops into Georgia. The Russian military has not said how many ofits troops were deployed.Russian military aircraft also bombed the Georgian town of Gori onSaturday. An Associated Press reporter who visited Gori shortlyafterward saw several apartment buildings in ruins, some still on fire,and scores of dead bodies and bloodied civilians. The elderly, women andchildren were among the victims."Georgia is facing Russia's military aggression," Saakashvili said,noting that Russian forces were attacking areas outside South Ossetia."Georgian authorities support a cease-fire and separation of the warringparties."It is the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won de factoindependence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

The fighting threatens to ignite a wider war between Russia and Georgia,which accused Russia of bombing its towns, ports and air bases. Georgia,a former Soviet republic with ambitions of joining NATO, has asked theinternational community to help end what it called Russian aggression.It also likely will increase tensions between Moscow and Washington,which Lavrov said should bear part of the blame for arming and trainingGeorgian soldiers.

Moscow has said it needs to protect its peacekeepers and civilians inSouth Ossetia, most of whom have been given Russian passports. EthnicOssetians live in the breakaway Georgian province and in the neighboringRussian province of North Ossetia.Overnight, Russian warplanes bombed the Vaziani military base on theoutskirts of the Georgian capital and near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oilpipeline, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said. Healso said two other military bases were hit, and that warplanes bombedthe Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.Georgia, meanwhile, said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, includingfour brought down Saturday, according to Kakha Lomaya, head of Georgia'sSecurity Council.

The first Russian confirmation that its planes had been shot down came Saturday from Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of theGeneral Staff, who said two Russian planes were downed. He did not saywhere or when.Russian military commanders said 15 peacekeepers have been killed andabout 150 wounded. Russian troops went in as peacekeepers but Georgiaalleges they now back the separatists.Russian military spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov accused Georgian troopsof killing and wounded Russian peacekeepers when they seized Russiancheckpoints. Konashenkov's allegations couldn't be independentlyconfirmed Saturday.

Russia's foreign minister said that Georgia brought the airstrikes uponitself by bombing civilians and Russian peacekeepers, and warned thatthe small Caucasus country should expect more attacks."Whatever side is used to bomb civilians and the positions ofpeacekeepers, this side is not safe and they should know this," Lavrov said.Asked whether Russia could bomb the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, Lavrovanswered: "I don't think the bombing is coming from Tbilisi, butwhatever part of Georgia is used for this aggression is not safe.

"It was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting. Bothclaim the battle started after the other side violated a cease-fire thathad been declared just hours earlier after a week of sporadic clashes.Diplomats have issued a flurry of statements calling on both sides tohalt the fighting and called for another emergency session of the U.N.Security Council, its second since early Friday morning seeking toprevent an all-out war.

President Bush said Saturday the outbreak of fighting is endangeringpeace throughout the volatile region, and he urged an end to the deadlyoutbreak of violence."I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Georgia," Bush said in astatement to reporters while attending the Olympics in Beijing. "Theattacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone ofconflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis.

"The violence is endangering regional peace, civilian lives have beenlost and others are endangered. We have urged an immediate halt to theviolence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to theRussian bombings, and a return by the parties to the status quo of Aug. 6."Russia, which has granted citizenship to most of the region's residents,appeared to lay much of the responsibility for ending the fighting onWashington.

Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, wasruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup ofthe Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership- a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken itsinfluence in the region.Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer, longhas pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and anotherbreakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairswithout international recognition since splitting from Georgia in theearly 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largestcontributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. ButSaakashvili has called them home in the face of the South Ossetiafighting. The Georgian commander of the brigade in Iraq said Saturdaythey would leave as soon as transport can be arranged.Associated Press writers Douglas Birch and Musa Sadulayev on theRussian-Georgian border, George Abdaladze in Gori, Georgia, and VladimirIsachenkov and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.