Reuters South Africa, South Africa

Georgian bridge attack echoes beyond borders
Sat 16 Aug 2008, 19:53 GMT

By Margarita Antidze

KASPI, Georgia (Reuters) – The attack on Georgia’s East-West railway
lifeline was over in minutes, a small group of men in battle fatigues
laying explosives on a key bridge before fleeing into the hills to
detonate them.

Residents of the town of Kaspi, in their accounts of the action, said
the fighters were Russians, a charge the Russian General Staff
dismissed as Georgian propaganda.

Whoever was responsible for the action against such an important
economic target after nine days of conflict, its consequences will be
felt beyond Georgian borders in the volatile Caucasus region.

Georgia’s European Integration Minister, Georgy Baramidze, said the
bombing of the bridge was "an economic disaster".

"This is huge damage, not just for Georgia, but for Armenia and
Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries, which are shipping goods and
oil by Georgian railway."

"The Russians, these barbarians, want to destroy our country
economically," he told reporters in emotional language characteristic
of the conflict around the Russian-backed separatist regions of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The railways in Georgia are a potent symbol of Russia’s imperial
expansion and the consolidation of its power there in the 19th
century. They enabled Russia to strengthen its hold on the region
which it maintained until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Irregular pro-Russian militia groups based in South Ossetia have been
active on Georgian territory throughout the conflict. Foreign and
Georgian civilians have accused them of hijacking cars and
looting. Russia has said it will bring them to heel.

CEASEFIRE

A 50-metre span across the river at Kaspi had collapsed completely,
pitching slabs of rubble into the water and around its banks. Severed
lengths of rail pointing up at the sky, power cables hung from their
pylons.

"There was a jeep and two Ural trucks," one resident told Georgian
television, referring to the Russian-made heavy vehicles. "They took a
huge sack and put it on the bridge, then walked up the hill and there
was an explosion."

He said the blast damaged the roof of his house and smashed windows
far around.

Within hours Georgian trucks arrived by road and a maintenance train
by rail. Workers immediately began repairs.

The incident occurred hours before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
signed a French-mediated ceasefire agreement already accepted by
Georgia.

The railway line runs from Tbilisi, through the now Russian-occupied
town of Gori, before splitting in three and running to the Black Sea
ports of Poti and Batumi and southwest down to just short of the
Turkish border.

On Friday, a Russian military convoy advanced to the Kaspi region from
Gori near breakaway South Ossetia, the deepest incursion into Georgia
proper in the confrontation.

Russia drove Georgian forces from South Ossetia last week, in a
massive counter-offensive after Tbilisi tried to retake the region
from pro-Moscow separatists.

(Writing by Ralph Boulton; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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