Heavy fighting has broken out on the border of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

BBC Moscow Correspondent Robert Parsons reports on the fighting (1'02")

Thousands of Georgians fled across a damaged bridge as fighting broke out in a border village, Tagiloni, less than 1km from Georgian-held territory.

The village came under attack by Abkhaz forces advancing into a Russian-patrolled de-militarised border area of Gali.

Journalists on the border say they have heard grenade blasts and saw smoke rising from Tagiloni.

The Abkhazians say the offensive was launched to drive Georgian irregular units out of the region.

Abkhazia claims to have killed almost 100 men in fighting on Sunday but there has been no independent confirmation of this.

Correspondents say the fighting in the area, which began last week, is the worst since Abkhazia broke away from Georgia five years ago.

Agreement to end the fighting

An agreement is reported to have been signed between Georgia and Abkhazia to end several days of heavy fighting.

The Russian Interfax news agency said the agreement was signed by the Georgian interior and foreign ministers and their Abkhaz counterparts.

It commits both sides to stop fighting (at 0200 GMT) on Tuesday and withdraw their respective forces.

Correspondents say it is hard to see how Georgia can implement this, as it has always insisted that the Georgian fighters in Gali are irregulars, over whom it has no control.

Peacekeepers "ineffective"

Russia has a peacekeeping force in the area but the Georgians say it has proved ineffective.

There have been regular battles along the border since 1993 when Abkhazian troops forced the Georgian army out of the self-proclaimed republic.

Shevardnadze: wants international help

The Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze has ruled out deploying troops to the area, saying such a move could lead to an escalation of violence.

Mr Shevardnadze said: "The involvement of the regular Army ... would lead us to a major military confrontation."

He called on the international community to help end the killing.

Over the years several thousand ethnic Georgians have crept back to their homes just inside Abkhazia.

But Mr Shevardnadze said up to 35,000 Georgians had abanoned homes in Abkhazia over the last week.

No country has recognised Abkhazia's self-declared independence and the tiny mountainous region on the Black Sea coast is increasingly isolated with its economy in ruins.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©