Georgian policeman killed by Russian troops near South Ossetia

A Georgian policeman has been shot and killed by gunfire from Russian soldiers at a checkpoint near the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia and has succumbed to his wounds, the Georgian interior ministry reports.

The policeman died at a hospital after being wounded in the head and neck, interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

"A Georgian policeman was fired on from a Russian checkpoint in Karaleti at around 09h15 local (05H15 GMT). The Russians fired two shots," he said. The Georgian police did not return fire.

The incident comes two days after Russian president Dmitry Medvedev reached an agreement with French president Nicolas Sarkozy to withdraw Russian forces from Georgia by October 10, though not from separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

 

Via civil.ge:

MIA: Georgian Policeman Killed in Karaleti

A Georgian policeman was shot dead in Karaleti, a village in which Russian troops maintain a presence, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), said in a statement on September 10.

“At 10:15am [local time] this morning, shots were fired at a Georgian police post on the edge of the village of Karaleti in the Gori district. The shots came from a nearby Russian post. As a result, a Georgian policeman, Kakha Tsotniashvili, was badly wounded in the head and throat. He died shortly afterwards in hospital,” the Interior Ministry statement said.

“The Georgian side did not return fire,” it added.

The village of Karaleti is seven kilometers from the town of Gori and is the first village in the so-called “security zone” established by Russian troops in the occupied territories outside South Ossetia.