TBILISI, September 9 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - A group of unknown, armed people in masks attacked Russian peacekeepers Friday night, commander of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion in the Tskhinvali region of South Ossetia, Mamuka Kurashvili said Friday.
"The attack took place when the peacekeepers were accompanying a car with locals. Two locals were abducted," Kurashvili said.
The commander said the kidnappers were relatives of the four Georgians abducted June 6 in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Their fate remains unknown.
"We are holding talks with the kidnappers. We hope they will be released soon," Kurashvili said.
The Georgian-South Ossetian conflict started in early 1990s, when Georgia stripped South Ossetia of its autonomy status, and then, when the republic declared independence, took punitive measures that led to numerous victims.
