A total of ten people have died and about 50 others have been wounded since early morning Thursday as a result of gunfire at Georgian-populated villages in the zone of conflict in the much-troubled breakaway region of South Ossetia, Itar-Tass quoted a spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry as saying. The ministry's data indicates that two of the dead are servicemen of the Georgian battalion, which is part of the Joint Peacekeeping Force in the zone of conflict, and the rest are civilians. Civilians also make up the vast majority of the wounded. The shelling has affected most severely the villages of Avnevi, Eredvi, Nuli, and some others. "Gunfire delivered by South Ossetian armed units has brought about destruction or damaging of several dozen buildings there," the spokesman claimed. "Since the South Ossetian side didn't stop shelling during the early morning and in the daytime, the Georgian side was compelled to retaliate with gunfire, too." "Late at night, the South Ossetian units opened fire on several occasions at the villages of Avnevi, Prisi and a few others, but the Georgian side didn't respond with fire following a decision taken by the President," he said. In the meantime, authorities in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia say a number of servicemen of their armed units have been killed or wounded, too.
