• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Georgia says Russian planes bomb near Tbilisi

Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:46pm EDT
(Adds background)

TBILISI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Russian warplanes bombed a military base and radar installation near Tbilisi early Monday, Georgia's Interior Ministry said.

"There were two bombings. One at the Kojori military base and another on Mt. Makhata. As far as I know there are no casualties," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Reuters.

The explosions, heard in Tbilisi's city centre, came just hours after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived for talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili aimed at trying to end the four-day-old war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Kouchner was scheduled to depart Tbilisi for Moscow immediately after his talks with Saakashvili. It was unclear if he left before the bombing.

Fighting erupted last Thursday when Georgia's military entered South Ossetia, a small pro-Moscow province that threw off Tbilisi's rule in the 1990s and has been jointly managed by Russian troops under a U.N. peacekeeping mandate.

Russian troops took control of the regional capital, Tskhinvali, early on Sunday and Georgia has now pulled back its forces and has offered a ceasefire and peace talks. (Reporting by Margarita Antidze, writing by Chris Baldwin, editing by Richard Balmforth)


More from Reuters

Photo

U.S. probing if al Qaeda linked to airplane incident

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is investigating whether al Qaeda was involved in a Christmas Day attempt to blow up a passenger jet, but there is no early evidence the Nigerian suspect in the case was part of a larger plot, the U.S. homeland security chief said on Sunday. | Video

» More Top News
A Delta Airbus 330 airliner sits on a runway at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan in this video grab made December 25, 2009. Credit: REUTERS/WDIV TV/Handout

The battle in mid-air

The attraction of bombing airliners means the aviation industry has to be constantly vigilant in its fight against attackers.  Full Article 

U.S.
A caution sign is seen next to a stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney September 5, 2008. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz
Political Risk in 2010:

Don't say we didn't warn you

With the financial crisis (mostly) in the past, U.S. investors are eying a fresh start to the coming year. Here's a look at what speedbumps lie ahead.  Full Article 

Global Markets