Russia, Georgia exchange charges over bombing raid

MOSCOW -- The president of Georgia accused Russian warplanes of bombing his nation Friday and killing one person, in an escalation of long-running tensions between the two neighbors.

Russian military officials shrugged off the protest by President Eduard A. Shevardnadze, denying the incident and claiming that the Georgians probably dropped the bombs themselves -- although Russian helicopters and planes have bombarded his country in the past.

Georgian officials said the early Friday incident also wounded five people. Georgian border guards reported that seven Russian planes took part in the attack, while a shepherd, Mindia Paradze, told Russia's NTV television that he saw eight planes flying from the direction of the Russian border.

The bombing occurred in the Ilto Gorge, near the town of Akhmeta and nine miles west of the Pankisi Gorge. In November, Georgian officials reported that two Russian planes dropped bombs inside Georgia.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have been poor since both emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the presence of Chechen rebels in and near the Pankisi Gorge in northeastern Georgia is the rawest irritant. The guerrillas are seeking independence for the nearby Russian republic of Chechnya.

Friday's conflict underscores the frustrations on both sides: Georgia's impotence in the face of sporadic bombardments by its powerful northern neighbor and Russia's inability to stop the rebels from using Georgia as a safe haven and a base to launch attacks.

The United States is also concerned about the lawless Pankisi area, amid reports during the spring that some Arab mercenaries were hiding there. U.S. Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, are in Georgia training an anti-terrorist force to bring the gorge under control.

The first test comes Sunday, when the Georgian forces will hold an operation in and near Pankisi.

Friday's bombing came a day after Georgia's Rustavi-2 television aired a report that dozens or hundreds of Chechen fighters had taken shelter in an area near the Pankisi Gorge.