TBILISI (AFP) - Armed men abducted eight Georgian civilians in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, an area that last month saw fighting between Tbilisi and Ossetian forces, police said.
"The abductors initially kidnapped 16 villagers, but eight managed to escape, they had been beaten up by their captors," the head of Georgian police Alexander Sukhitashvili told AFP.
The abductors were heavily armed and spoke Ossetian and Russian, Sukhitashvili said, quoting the escapees.
He said the Ossetian separatist authorities told him they did not know were the kidnapped Georgians were.
Ossetian officials contacted by AFP declined to comment on the situation.
It was the first time such an incident had occurred since Georgia late last month pulled its troops back from the Russian-backed region of South Ossetia after an unprecedented show of force that infuriated Russia and worried Washington.
Georgian pro-Western president Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to regain control over the separatist region and last month for the first time admitted that his army was again present in South Ossetia.
However, anger from Moscow and concern from Washington led to the withdrawal of Georgian troops, after clashes between Georgian and Ossetian forces.
Talks between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia -- which has ethnic links to North Ossetia, a republic within Russia -- have been launched at various levels but so far failed to produce any results.
The dispute has become a sore point in relations between Georgia and Russia, which seeks to retain its historic influence in the volatile Caucasus and views US intentions in its own strategic backyard with deep suspicion.
South Ossetia falls within Georgian borders but is inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians. The adjacent province of North Ossetia, also dominated by Ossetians, is part of Russia. South Ossetia has demanded either independence or rule from Moscow.