Georgian security forces have been forced to retreat amid Russian bombardment in a fierce battle for control of the South Ossetian rebel capital of Tskhinvali, officials said.
TBILISI: Georgian security forces have been forced to retreat amid Russian bombardment in a fierce battle for control of the South Ossetian rebel capital of Tskhinvali, officials said.
"Russian armed forces are bombarding Tskhinvali," Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said after earlier claiming complete control of the city. "We have lost control over some parts of the city."
Russian news agencies quoted witnesses and officials as saying hundreds of civilians had been killed. Buildings were ablaze and dead Georgian soldiers seen alongside destroyed tanks in the streets.
A spokesman for Russian army chief Vladimir Boldyrev was quoted as saying that Russian tank and artillery units had destroyed Georgian positions around the city after entering separatist South Ossetia earlier on Friday.
"The positions from which Georgian troops were firing... have been destroyed by fire from artillery and tank units of the 58th Army," said the spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, Russian news agencies reported.
Konashenkov said 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed in fighting.
South Ossetian separatist authorities said Russian forces had reached the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali and that a "turning point" was imminent.
"Russian armoured vehicles have come to the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali," they said on their website. "According to witnesses, the battle for the capital of the republic is about to reach a turning point."
Separatist forces have begun to retake Tskhinvali, with four Georgian tanks blown up in the city, the leader of South Ossetia's unrecognised government Eduard Kokoity said in a statement on the separatist website.
"The fourth batallion of the South Ossetian army, responsible for the southern side of Tskhinvali's defences, has begun forcing out Georgian troops from this part of the city," Kokoity said.
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