Georgian interior ministry: Online threats not linked to Taliban
By Sabina Idayatova
Video threats posted on the Internet against the Georgian President and the Georgian military in Afghanistan are not linked to the Taliban, Georgian Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili told reporters after a meeting of the National Security Council on June 11.
A video called "Jihad against Georgian troops in Afghanistan" has recently appeared on YouTube. According to Georgian media reports, the authors of the video threatened the Georgian soldiers involved in the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
The video says every soldier on Afghan land and those who sent them there "will be punished".
The appearance of the video was immediately followed by an attack on a base of Georgian troops in Helmand, Afghanistan on June 6, in which seven soldiers were killed and nine wounded.
According to Garibashvili, it definitely can be concluded that the video was uploaded on the territory of Georgia.
"We have already ascertained the IP address.... Currently, investigation is underway to identify a specific person," Garibashvili said.
Garibashvili noted that the investigation is being conducted jointly with the FBI.
On June 8, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to investigate the appearance of the anti-Georgian videos online.
The issue was high on the agenda of the National Security Council session, which was convened by President Saakashvili after he demanded to immediately identify those who had posted the video.
Meanwhile, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania said that two Georgian military bases were closed in Afghanistan.
According to him, the Georgian side appealed to the NATO command with this initiative after a series of attacks on Georgian troops.
"After the first attack we appealed to the NATO command on the measures that should have been taken to ensure the safety of our troops. The recommendations of the Georgian side were fully accepted. According to them, the process of fortification and engineering reinforcement has already been started. According to our recommendations, two of our bases were closed, although for a certain reason I cannot name their places of deployment. All the possible measures were taken to ensure the safety of our troops," Alasania said.
The military base which was recently attacked had to be shut down in three to four days, and the contingent was to be moved to a new location, Alasania said. "Unfortunately, we do not have time to do this," he added.