TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia. Feb 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Investigators looking into the attack on a Georgian road police post 2km from Tskhinvali rule out any involvement of servicemen of the collective peacekeeping forces in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, the forces' commander Major General Vasily Prizemlin said on Monday.
Captain Ushangi Tsotniashvili, senior inspector of the Georgian Interior Ministry road police, died in the attack.
"People wearing some elements of military uniform were indeed seen at the tragedy site, but they were not servicemen. Local mafia gangs had their own claims to Tsotniashvili, who had earlier participated in the detention of a criminal," Prizemlin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Earlier a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency that the attackers wore military uniform and were waiting for the captain in a red VAZ-2109 car. They fired assault rifles at the policeman's jeep, which was proven by sleeves for the Kalashnikov assault rifle found at the tragedy site. The captain died of wounds on the spot.
The criminals took Tsotniashvili's Niva, pistol and cellar phone and drove away heading for Tskhinvali.
The Tskhinvali regional prosecutor's office is investigating the murder.