Russia bombs airfield, masses troops, says Georgia

TBILISI (Reuters) - Loud explosions rocked Georgia's capital early on Sunday, and a senior official said Russian warplanes had bombed a military airfield outside Tbilisi.

"Three bombs were dropped on a military airfield belonging to Tbilaviastroi plant. There were no casualties," Shota Utiashvili, the head of the Georgian Interior Ministry's information department, told Reuters.

The plant has been producing Sukhoi Su-25 ground fighters since Soviet days.

He corrected his earlier information that Tbilisi's international airport had been the actual target.

Reuters correspondents in Tbilisi heard the three loud bangs shortly after 0530 (0130 GMT).

Utiashvili said in the past few hours Russia had brought 6,000 troops into Georgia and a further 4,000 troops by sea and Russian forces were preparing to attack at dawn.

"All of them are waiting for dawn to start active actions. Georgia faces a humanitarian catastrophe," Utiashvili said.

Russian troops and tanks rolled into ex-Soviet Georgia on Friday after Georgian forces began an assault on the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which wants to become part of Russia.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze, Writing by Richard Balmforth, Editing by Dmitry Solovyov)