WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (AFP) - The United States on Monday urged all sides in the conflict over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia to show restraint and restore a weekend ceasefire that was broken in clashes that killed two Georgian soldiers.
The State Department said US diplomats in Washington and Tbilisi were continuing to meet with Russian and Georgian officials in an effort to cool tensions over pro-Russian South Ossetia which have boiled over into open hostilities in the past week.
"We want all sides in this to exercise restraint and to implement the (ceasefire) agreement as it's been given," said Tom Casey, a department spokesman. "There are continuing violations of the ceasefire that (are) being reported and that needs to stop.
"The ceasefire agreement needs to be implemented and we need to get forward with political dialogue and discussion through the joint control commission," he told reporters, referring to a scheduled meeting on Tuesday of a tripartite Georgian-Russian-Ossetian panel in Tbilisi.
Earlier Monday, a Georgian official said two Georgian servicemen were killed after coming under mortar and automatic weapons fire from irregular forces in South Ossetia.
The official also said 15 Ossetian fighters were killed in return fire from Georgian forces, but a South Ossetian spokeswoman denied any fatalities.
The violence came three days after a ceasefire signed by the conflicting parties as well as Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) went into effect in a renewed drive to defuse the crisis in the region.
Tensions have soared and clashes have repeatedly broken out in the area over the past two months as Georgia has stepped up pressure to bring separatist regions back under its control -- turning its attention to Ossetia after winning back renegade Adjara in June.
Inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians, South Ossetia has enjoyed de facto independence after an armed conflict with Tbilisi following the break-up 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.