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Armed conflict on Georgia-Abkhazia border

21 September 2007 08:53 (UTC +04:00)

A Georgian Interior Ministry official said that Abkhazian rebels crossed into the Georgian part of the Kodori gorge and opened fire on its policemen. They fired back, killing two Abkhazian fighters.
Abkhaziaâ€™s leader Sergei Bagapsh, in his account, said Georgian servicemen crossed into the Abkhazian part of the gorge and opened fire. He said two Georgian soldiers were killed.
Relations between Tbilisi and Russia, its former Soviet master, have soured over Moscow’s support for Abkhazia and another breakaway region of Georgia called South Ossetia. Tbilisi lost control over the regions in wars in the 1990s.
Russiaâ€™s already cold relations with its tiny Caucasus neighbor plunged to a new low in August when Tbilisi accused Moscow of dropping a missile on Georgian territory.
The shootout is likely to push tensions further between Georgia and Abkhazia who exchanged veiled threats over the incident.
â€œI urge Abkhaziaâ€™s de facto government to stop playing with fire and cease their attempts to carry out armed provocations,â€ David Bakradze, Georgian conflict settlement minister, told â€œAny such act of provocation will be met with an appropriate response from the Georgian side that could yield very grave results,â€ he said.
â€œWe intend to resolve this conflict but we will not let any act of provocation that poses a threat to our people’s security and peace goes unanswered,â€ he added.
Abkhaziaâ€™s Bagapsh said: â€œGeorgia has completed an act of aggression and we will answer with urgent and adequate measuresâ€./APA/