Report: Tbilisi grenade did target Bush

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- The White House confirmed Wednesday a grenade found last week in Georgia's capital was capable of exploding and a threat to President George Bush.

Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili addressed thousands of people in the city's Freedom Square May 10. After the event, the grenade was found and Georgian officials declared it to be a harmless Soviet-era training device.

However, A White House official told CBS Wednesday the event's security checkpoint had collapsed, and thousands of people got in without going through metal detectors.

The FBI said the grenade, wrapped in a dark handkerchief, fell about 100 feet from the podium where Bush was speaking and "simply failed to function due to a light strike on the blasting cap."

Police in Tbilisi have issued an appeal for anyone with photographs or videotapes of the gathering to come forward, CBS said.