Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian Interior Ministry has said an armed incident occurred in the Tskhinvali region of breakaway South Ossetia on Sunday as two unknown men attacked a van with Georgians, Azerbaijan's Trend news agency reported.

Villager Vakhtang Sebiskveradze and his son were traveling from Abano to Koda, another village, when four armed men in Russian uniforms reportedly blocked the way to the vehicle. Sebiskveradze did not lose himself and tried to escape from the place, but the gunmen opened fire.

The Georgians who traveled in the van managed to escape, though later the vehicle was found with bullet holes on it.

Later, the same armed group, which entered Tbilisi-controlled territory from South Ossetia, is said to have opened fire on a citizen who was walking along a rural road.

Georgian law enforcement bodies, whose post was nearby, retaliated. The skirmish lasted 15-20 minutes, with no casualties reported, in what locals said was the first such incident in a long time.

According to the Interior Ministry, the Ossetian side has arrested all the members of the armed group.

The incident is being studied by an EU observation mission, which is based near the conflict zone.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Nino Giorgobiani said that the incident occurred on the Ossetian-controlled territory, not on the Georgian-controlled one, and that they had detained several people. However, Giorgobiani did not specify where the incident took place.

In August 2008, diplomatic tensions and clashes between Georgia and South Ossetia erupted into a war. The development also led to tensions between Russia and Georgia as Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia and later recognized the rebel regions. In response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.

Georgia and the vast majority of other countries do not recognize South Ossetian independence and officially consider it as sovereign territory of the Georgian state.