Moscow/Tbilisi, Georgia - The war between Russian and
Georgia expanded on Saturday morning, with fighting spilling outside
the Caucasus province of Ossetia, and both sides moving
reinforcements to the region.
The fiercest fighting was in the South Ossetian city of
Tskhinvali, where street fighting and artillery exchanges continued
sporadically throughout the night.
Intense howitzer and tank fire in the vicinity of the town was
audible by mid-morning on Saturday.
Georgian television showed images of hundreds of rockets and heavy
artillery shells crashing into Tskhinvali. Shelling reduced entire
city blocks to rubble, according to eyewitnesses.
Counts of civilian casualties varied widely, with Georgia
estimating between one and two dozen killed, and some 100
injured as of Friday evening.
Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia's leader, claimed more than 1,400
civilians had died and implied thousands more had been injured.
Eyewitnesses said many victims lost their lives when caught out in
the open by artillery fire as they attempted to flee. Georgian
television showed images of corpses sprawled along sidewalks and
streets, in some cases still holding luggage.
Russian army losses, primarily to a peacekeeping unit stationed in
South Ossetia when intense fighting broke out, were admitted at 12
soldiers killed and 22 seriously injured, the Kremlin said.
Georgian military losses were not being reported. Georgian
television showed images of a small trickle of Georgian casualties
moving to rear areas aboard jeeps and pick up trucks.
Control of Tskhinvali appeared disputed on Saturday, with Georgian
officials asserting total control of the city, and Kremlin sources
saying Russian peacekeeper infantry - a unit of 2,500 men strong
before the fighting began - continued to hold out in Tskhinvali's
south.
Refugees were leaving the region and heading north towards the
Russian border throughout the night, at times under Georgian
artillery fire.
Georgian forces late on Friday ceased fire for some three hours to
allow civilians to leave, but according to Russian observers Georgian
shelling interdicted roads leading north throughout the night.
Russian airstrikes hit in and outside South Ossetia on Friday,
according to Georgian claims, continuing into early Saturday.
Targets bombed or rocketed by fighter aircraft included,
reportedly, the Vaziani military base 20 kilometres south-east of the
Georgian capital Tbilisi, villages within Ossetia, shore
installations in the Black Sea port city Poti, and in the vicinity of
a major pipeline shipping oil across Georgia for international
markets.
Georgia by Saturday had claimed it had shot down five Russian
airplanes, an allegation denied by Russia.
Russia claimed it had destroyed two Georgian aircraft, but there
was no independent confirmation.
Russia and Georgia announced halts to civilian air traffic
effective Saturday.
Spokesmen for Russia's 58th Army said regular army forces,
including two tank columns, had been arriving in the region
throughout the night, at times under Georgian artillery fire, and
that a counteroffensive to eject Georgian troops from the city was
being planned.
'We are preparing to re-establish the peace,' said Igor
Konashenkov, a Russian army spokesman, according to Interfax.
Any Georgian counter-fire would, according to Konashenkov 'be
violently suppressed...by Russian artillery and aircraft.' He added
that Spetsnaz, an elite commando unit, was en route to Ossetia
and would arrive 'within the next few hours.'
Georgia mobilized its reserves on Thursday. Discussions were in
progress with the US to bring back to Georgia an elite 1,000-man
Georgian infantry battalion currently stationed in Iraq.
International efforts to bring a ceasefire appeared stymied, with
the UN's Security Council at loggerheads with the US and Russia
taking effectively opposite views over the Ossetia conflict.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday said Russia
should reverse its reinforcements to Ossetia, and withdraw all
of its combat forces from Georgian territory.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin rejected the idea, saying
Russian forces were fufilling a 'perfectly legal' peacekeeping
mission, and that the Kremlin's goal was to restore peace to the
region.
It was the second failed Security Council session on Ossetia after
a first attempt Friday. The Security Council reportedly was planning
another emergency meeting on Saturday.
USA
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