Explosion in Georgia kills seven Russians

TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A Russian commander said seven Russian troops died Friday in an explosion in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The unidentified Russian military commander in South Ossetia said the blast occurred in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and left seven other Russian troops with injuries, the BBC reported.

Officials said the blast was caused by an explosives-laden car that exploded at a regional Russian military base.

The South Ossetian government said the vehicle had been seized by Russian troops after weapons were found in it during a search of an ethnic Georgian village.

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity accused Georgia of orchestrating the bombing in order to sour relations between his breakaway republic and Russia.

"That was a deliberate terrorist act prepared by the Georgian Security Ministry," Kokoity was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

The BBC said Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili, whose country's invasion of South Ossetia was stopped by Russia this year, has denied the allegation.