Auguts 4, 2008
Henry Meyer and Paul Abelsky, Bloomberg

Russia warned of ``wide-scale'' military conflict between Georgia and its breakaway South Ossetia region after as many as six people died in fighting over the weekend.

Georgian forces ``sharply aggravated'' the situation in South Ossetia by shelling residential areas of the capital Tskhinvali at the weekend, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.

South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and exists now as a de facto independent state with Russian peacekeepers and economic support. Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, accuses Russia of stoking tensions in South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia.

Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry, said South Ossetian forces had sparked fighting after a car bomb attack on a Georgian police vehicle. He denied that Georgian troops had shelled Tskhinvali, saying they only responded with automatic gunfire.

``We've been trying to explain to all sides that we want to deescalate the situation,'' Utiashvili said by telephone from the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Nine Georgian civilians and seven policemen were wounded in the fighting, he said.

Airspace Violation

South Ossetian authorities said on Aug. 1 that six people died in the fighting and seven more were injured, state-run Russian news service RIA Novosti reported.

Russia called for ``constructive cooperation'' from the U.S., the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

South Ossetian authorities said today they had evacuated 800 children by bus to neighboring Russia, state-run Russian broadcaster Vesti-24 reported on its Web site.

A month ago, a clash between Georgia and South Ossetia left three dead and as many as 11 injured. A few days later, Georgia recalled its ambassador from Moscow after Russia admitted that its air force had violated Georgian airspace over South Ossetia.