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Georgian officials: shots fired at president's motorcade

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Monday, 24 November 2008 08:35

Georgian officials are reporting that the presidents of Georgia and Poland were fired upon while traveling in a motorcade on Sunday.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Polish President Lech Kaczynski were not harmed in the incident.
It's believed the gunshots came from the disputed province of South Ossetia -- and that the motorcade was approaching a military checkpoint at the time of the incident. However, there is some dispute as to exactly where the incident took place.
Georgia's Interior Ministry said the shots were fired at a military checkpoint in the Akhalgori area, while legislator Marika Verulashvili said the incident happened at a Georgian checkpoint near South Ossetia.
A Kaczyski aide told Polish news agency PAP that Russian soldiers were 30 metres from the motorcade when the shots were fired.
Russian troops based in South Ossetia have denied they were involved in the incident, and South Ossetian spokesperson Irina Gagloyeva denies that the incident even occurred.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said he had no comment on the alleged incident.
Georgian Speaker David Bakradze said the incident "shows what kind of treacherous power" his country is facing.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the incident, there are several groups in the region who may have been behind the gunfire, said Donald Jensen, an expert on Russian affairs at Johns Hopkins University.

"It's a mark of the instability in the region that there are a lot of parties that could of shot something, if indeed it was directed at the motorcade today,"

said Jensen in an interview with CTV Newsnet.

Along with armed guerillas and militiamen aligned with South Ossetia, Jensen said the shots may have come from Russian troops stationed in the area.

"There's a lot of indication that some of the troops that Moscow sent in August are, to some extent, acting on their own,"

suggested Jensen.

Conversely, Jensen noted that President Saakashvili's political support has been eroding recently, and the shots may have been a warning.
South Ossetia was the focus of a conflict between Russia and Georgia earlier this year. Russia has pulled back most of its troops from the province since the war in August. However, soldiers still remain in the nearby town of Akhalgori and the Kodori Gorge in another breakaway territory, Abkhazia. Russia claims the conflict began when Georgia attacked targets inside South Ossetia, where many residents hold Russian passports. That triggered a major retaliation by the Russian military.

Source: CTV.ca, AP.
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Georgian officials: shots fired at president's motorcade
Monday, 24 November 2008

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