Russian Warplanes Target Sites Near Georgian Capital

Georgian and Russian forces are engaged in fierce clashes in South Ossetia. Officials in Tbilisi have said they will declare a state of emergency after Russian forces reportedly bombed sites near the Georgian capital.

Russian forces battled pro-Western Georgian troops in South Ossetia on Friday in an escalating conflict that has killed hundreds and threatens to engulf the entire region. Both sides ignored pleas from world leaders for calm as Moscow and Tbilisi blamed each other for the fighting in South Ossetia which began after several days of skirmishes.



Intense fighting reportedly raged for a second night in South Ossetia and Georgia's interior ministry reported air attacks on three military bases and key facilities for shipping oil to the West.


Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by warplanes early Saturday and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. He also said two other Georgian military bases were hit and that warplanes bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.



Uiashvili said there are apparently significant casualties and damage, but that further details would not be known until the morning.


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Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said his country was at war with Russia on Aug. 8 "Over the past two hours, Russian aviation has carried out flights on economic and civilian infrastructure targets. There has been an attack on the port of Poti and on a railway junction and aerodrome in Senaki," Lomaia said.



Georgia Builds up troops in Abkhazia

Meanwhile, Georgia bolstered its troops on the border to separatist Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian province, according to a top Abkhaz official.

The Interfax news agency quoted the official on Saturday as having seen that Georgia had "significantly increased its military presence on the border with Abkhazia over the past 24 hours.

"We are expecting provocations from the Georgian side," he said.

Georgia has vowed to retake both provinces under its control. Sporadic shootings are frequent along the unofficial border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia but the region, located on the Black Sea, has so far not been affected by the Georgian offensive in South Ossetia.

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http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3549036,00.html

hope this stops here