TBILISI, Aug 15 (AFP) - Sporadic gunfire and shelling took place overnight in the disputed Georgian region of South Ossetia in violation of a fragile ceasefire, wounding seven Georgian servicemen, officials said Sunday.
Both sides traded accusations over the origin of the incidents, but a Georgian defense ministry spokesman told AFP that the seven Georgian soldiers were hit by fire from separatist forces and taken to a hospital in the city of Gori.
Three of the men were in serious condition, the spokesman said.
Georgian Defense Minister Georgy Baramidze said mortars were lobbed at his motorcade as he travelled in the region following a meeting of a special commission charged with resolving the conflict there. No one in the motorcade was injured.
Baramidze told the Georgian television station Imedi that he ordered return fire and said "I am sure there were some wounded on the Ossetian side."
There was no immediate confirmation of that from officials in South Ossetia.
Interfax news agency separately reported that positions on the outskirts of South Ossetia`s main city, Tskhinvali, came under brief mortar fire early Sunday.
"This was followed by sporadic exchanges of small-arms fire," Interfax said, quoting an unnamed source at the headquarters of the joint Georgia-Russian-Ossetian peacekeeping mission.
The agency said peacekeeping units including troops from Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were patrolling the area to determine the location of "illegal" armed groups.
A ceasefire went into effect in South Ossetia at midnight (1900 GMT) Friday, a day after four Georgian servicemen were killed and dozens of Ossetian civilians wounded in fighting between Georgian troops and separatist forces.
Tensions have soared and clashes have repeatedly broke out in the region over the past two months as Georgia has stepped up pressure to bring separatist regions back under its control.
Inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians, the territory has enjoyed de facto independence since fighting a bruising battle against Tbilisi following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Leaders in South Ossetia have demanded either their own state or else separation from Georgia and direct governance from Moscow.