Georgian Troops Kill Eight South Ossetian Fighters

TBILISI, Aug 19 (AFP) - Georgian troops have killed eight pro-Russian South Ossetian fighters in the latest wave of violence to sweep the volatile Caucus region, the interior minister said here in televised remarks Thursday.
Iraki Orkuashvili confirmed that Georgian troops attacked South Ossetian positions, and took of control of territories that he claimed were used by the pro-Moscow forces to launch their own attack on Georgia.
He said the bodies of eight Cossacks -- ethnic Russians who have fought in the Caucasus since tsarist times and who Tbilisi now accuses of being involved in the conflict -- were found by Georgian troops after they took the territory.
There was no immediate confirmation of the fatalaties from the authorities in South Ossetia.