Seven Russian soldiers killed in S. Ossetia blast

Seven Russian soldiers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia yesterday, Russian news agencies reported.

They quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source as laying the blame on unspecified forces "seeking to destabilise the situation" - accusations clearly aimed at Tbilisi which it quickly denied.

"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.

RIA news agency quoted Major-General Kulakhmetov as saying that the Russian troops, who control the region and a swathe of Georgian territory outside it, had detained two cars in the Georgian village of Ditsa.

"There were four people, apparently ethnic Georgians, in the car. Light firearms and two grenades were also found," Major-General Kukakhmetov said.

"The cars and the detained people were escorted to (South Ossetian capital) Tskhinvali," he added. "During the search of one of the cars, an explosive device equivalent to some 20 kilos went off."

Thick black smoke plumed into the air after the explosion. Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene.

Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian, Georgian region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.

Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.

The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded that Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones. EU monitors have now entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia to begin a peacekeeping operation. Russia says confiscating illegal weapons and explosives was part of the work carried out by its troops.

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgian security services for the blast.