Police in Georgia's separatist South Ossetia killed four Chechen "saboteurs" on Tuesday who officials suggested had been recruited by the Tbilisi government to stir up trouble ahead of an independence referendum. South Ossetia's emergency minister, Boris Chochiev, at first identified the dead as Georgians. Georgian authorities denied any involvement.
South Ossetia threw off Georgian rule in fighting in the early 1990s. Although a cease-fire was signed, violence has simmered on and tension has risen since the fiery pro-Western Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was elected in 2004.
The region holds a referendum on November 12 which is expected to confirm independence from Georgia and give a boost to its aspirations of being absorbed into Russia. "We found out that the saboteurs were Chechens and not Georgians. They got into the territory of South Ossetia from Georgia's Pankisi Gorge," Chochiev said.
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