TSKHINVALI. Aug 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Acting South Ossetian Defense Minister Ibragim Gassiyev claims Georgia fired upon a Russian peacekeeping outpost in the village of Sarabuk on Thursday morning.
"This is an open war," Gassiyev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The central city of the self-proclaimed South Ossetian republic, Tskhinvali, was also heavily fired upon on Thursday morning. An Interfax-AVN correspondent reported from the scene that the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali came under fire from the direction of the Georgian village of Tamarasheni at about 6:00 a.m. Moscow time (0200 GMT).
Gassiyev also said Tskhinvali's city hospital had been shelled by heavy mortars.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee Irina Gagloyeva said that, in addition to the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian forces' positions around the city were also being fired upon. She said three people in Tskhinvali had been wounded.
Gassiyev, however, told Interfax-AVN that at least seven civilians were seriously wounded in the southern part of the city.
South Ossetian Minister Boris Chochiyev told Interfax-AVN that "the South Ossetian leadership demanded that shooting upon populated areas in the Tskhnivali district cease within an hour."
"Georgian official State Minister for Separatist Conflicts Georgy Khaindrava promised in a telephone conversation that he would do all he could so that the shooting would stop," Chochiyev said.
The Georgian Interior Ministry told Interfax-AVN that Georgian villages located in the gorge of the Large Liakhva river were being heavily hit.
"All kinds of weapons including heavy hardware are being used to fire upon the villages," the ministry said.
It also said several Georgians had been seriously wounded.