| I think we all saw this one coming. |
Forces in breakaway South Ossetia's main city and a nearby ethnic Georgian village exchanged heavy fire as tensions grew between Georgia's government and the region's separatist leadership, authorities said Friday. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said towns and villages in the region came under fire from Georgian forces late Thursday and early Friday in what he claimed was the beginning of "a well planned aggression" by the government, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. Georgian and Russian military officials described more limited fighting, and a Georgian officer said South Ossetian forces had initiated the exchanges of fire.
Kokoity said Georgian forces fired on South Ossetia's main city Tskhinvali from three sides and had tried to enter the northern part of the city but were turned away, Interfax reported. He said ethnic Ossetian villages in two other parts of the region also came under fire. Kokoity said one South Ossetian serviceman was injured, and other South Ossetian representatives said two civilians in Tskhinvali were injured, Interfax and the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. |