OLD OLD Georgia reports new air attack near capital

Intense fighting rages for a second night in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia.

Smoke is seen over buildings after Russian bombardment in Gori, 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 9, 2008.

TBILISI, GEORGIA // Intense fighting has raged for a second night in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia. Georgia's interior ministry reported air attacks on three military bases and key facilities for shipping oil to the West. The interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by warplanes during the night and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

The Georgian foreign ministry also released a statement today that said a Russian aerial bombardment has destroyed the Black Sea port of Poti. "Russia completely devastated the port of Poti on the Black Sea, which is a key port for the transport of energy sources from the Caspian Sea and is close to the Baku-Supsa pipeline and the Supsa oil terminal," the statement said. Russia dispatched an armoured column into South Ossetia yesterday after Georgia, a staunch US ally, launched a surprise offensive to crush separatists.

Witnesses said hundreds of civilians were killed. The fighting, which devastated the capital of Tskhinvali, threatened to ignite a wider war between Georgia and Russia, and escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington. Georgia said it was forced to launch the assault because of rebel attacks; the separatists alleged Georgia violated a cease-fire. "I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

The Interfax news agency cited the South Ossetian government spokesman Irina Gagloyeva who said Tskhinvali came under prolonged fire during the night "but it was suppressed by the armed forces". The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and the US president George W Bush, were in Beijing. The timing suggested the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia - a key to his hold on power.

The leader of South Ossetia's rebel government, Eduard Kokoity, said about 1,400 people were killed in the onslaught, the Interfax news agency reported. The toll could not be independently confirmed. As night fell, there were conflicting claims as to who held the battlefield advantage. Mr Saakashvili said "Georgian military forces completely control all the territory of South Ossetia" except for a northern section adjacent to Russia.

But Russian news agencies cited a Russian military official who said heavy fighting was under way on the outskirts of the regional capital. It was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting. Both claim the battle started after the other side violated a cease-fire that had been declared just hours earlier after a week of sporadic clashes. It was the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won de facto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

*AP