A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in the Georgian town of Gori, killing three policemen and injuring at least 10 others.
The blast wrecked a regional police headquarters in Gori, about 100km (60 miles) west of the capital Tbilisi.
Gori is the regional capital of an area which officially includes South Ossetia, a breakaway territory that saw a flare-up of violence last year.
The local authorities denounced the bombing as a "terrorist act".
The explosion virtually destroyed the regional police headquarters and badly damaged 10 cars, an interior ministry spokesman said.
Officials say the blast was most likely aimed against the regional police chief, Alexander Sukhiashvili, because the car was parked under his office.
His regional directorate was in charge of operations in the Georgian-populated parts of South Ossetia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to reunite the territory with the rest of the country.
Last year's crisis led to a considerable build-up of troops and police forces on both sides.
Gori was the home town of the former Soviet leader, Josef Stalin.
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