SUKHUMI. Oct 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Abkhazia's armed forces on Tuesday evening encircled an about 200-strong group of Chechen and Georgian rebels in the Kodori gorge.
Abkhazian Vice President Valery Arshba told Interfax on Tuesday evening that this rebel group had earlier attacked the village of Naa and shot 14 civilians. He said he did not expect hostilities to continue during the night.
Regarding the possibility of talks with Georgian officials, Arshba said that "talks may deal exclusively with the withdrawal of the terrorists to Georgia from Abkhazia." "We shall not tolerate a single terrorist in Abkhazia. The Abkhazian authorities are determined to continue operations to eliminate terrorists in Abkhazian territory," Arshba said.
He said that Tbilisi's arguments about whose planes bombed Abkhazia on Tuesday, "are mere speculations." "Abkhazian villages were bombed by Georgian planes," he said.
Interfax has learned that 15 Abkhazian servicemen and more than 20 civilians have been killed as a result of clashes with Chechen, Georgian and Arab rebels in Abkhazia since the middle of last week.