3 die in S. Ossetia-Georgian skirmish

TBILISI, Georgia, July 4 (UPI) -- Three people died and 11 were injured when Georgian forces fired on Tskhinvali, capital of the breakaway republic South Ossetia, officials said.

Artillery shells landed in several residential areas of the city in Thursday's incident and the villages of Ubiat and Dmenis also were fired on, RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency, reported.

Peacekeeping forces in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone were placed on high alert, the news agency said.

"According to preliminary reports, three people were killed and around 11 people injured in an escalation (of the situation) and a special Georgian military operation," the state Web site said.

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said military equipment would be moved into the area if the shelling continued.

South Ossetian units "will open fire only as a last resort and on my personal instruction. All of the enemy's firing positions have been located and will be eliminated at any moment," Kokoity said.

South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. The pro-Western Georgian leadership has said it would bring the region and the breakaway state of Abkhazia back under Georgian control, RIA Novosti said.