New Clashes Erupt In South Ossetia

10 July 2004 -- More fighting broke out overnight in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
Mikheil Kareli, spokesman for the office of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, said four members of Georgia's security forces were injured early today during shootings at a checkpoint between the villages of Pristi and Eredvi.

Late yesterday, unidentified Georgian gunmen reportedly opened fire at a security checkpoint in the same region, injuring a number of policemen.

Tensions have escalated in the republic since 8 July, when separatist Ossetian activists detained a group of 36 Georgian Army soldiers. All but three of them were released yesterday.

(AFP)