Georgia to seal off rebel gorge

Georgia says it recaptured the gorge after days of clashes

Georgia says it will set up checkpoints in a strategic gorge in the breakaway Abkhazia region, following last week's clashes with a rebel group.

Tbilisi plans to have eight checkpoints in the Kodori gorge and is preparing to set up a headquarters for Abkhazia's "legitimate government" there.

Separatist authorities in Abkhazia denounced the move as a "provocation" and kept their troops on high alert.

Russia has warned Georgia it will not tolerate a conflict along its border.

Abkhaz rebels drove Georgian troops from the region in 1993.

Trading accusations

Georgia sent security forces to the gorge to flush out a rebel militia led by Emzar Kvitsiani.

One civilian was killed and two Georgian soldiers wounded during several days of fighting in the gorge, Georgian officials said. Local media disputed the official casualty figures.

Georgian troops remain in the gorge - the only part of Abkhazia still under nominal Georgian government control.

Tbilisi has accused Russia of backing Emzar Kvitsiani - who remains at large - in order to find an excuse for military intervention in Georgia.

Moscow denies any role in the uprising.

Russia has put its troops in the area on alert, condemning the Georgian deployment in the gorge as a "serious violation of the 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement", which halted fighting between Georgian and Abkhaz separatist forces.

The unrecognised Abkhaz government also protested against the Georgian move into the gorge.

Georgia has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Abkhazia and another breakaway region - South Ossetia.

Moscow insists that its troops are peacekeepers, needed to prevent a resumption of hostilities.