Azerbaijan News Service

Separatist Georgian region mobilizes troops

"We call on the Georgian side to pull out their forces," separatist leader Eduard Kokoity said. "Otherwise, we will take a decision to introduce heavy machinery and offensive weapons to terminate all the units illegally deployed in the conflict zone."

The separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia announced a general military call-up after a clash with Georgian troops that left three dead and as many as 11 injured, officials said.

`Georgia has left us no choice but to put the military on high alert,'' Irina Gagloyeva, a spokeswoman for the South Ossetian separatists' press committee, said today by telephone from the regional capital Tskhinvali.

South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia during a war in the early 1990s, on March 5 appealed to the United Nations, European and Russian leaders to recognize its independence, citing Kosovo as a precedent.

Separatist leader Eduard Kokoity said that if Georgia doesn't halt attacks on villages in the region, he will order a military buildup in the conflict zone.

`For now we're waiting for the Georgians to withdraw their units,'' he said in comments broadcast on Russian state television. ``If they don't, we'll send heavy equipment and offensive weapons into the conflict zone to eliminate any units deployed there in violation of all existing agreements.''

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, expressed concern today over the violence in South Ossetia.

`I call on all parties to use all necessary tools at their disposal to restore dialogue, a pre-condition for building confidence,'' he said in an e-mailed statement.