At least seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and three wounded Friday when a car bomb exploded near the HQ of a peacekeeping battalion in the South Ossetian capital.
"The Russian Defense Ministry considers this incident as a carefully planned terrorist act aimed at preventing the implementation of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan," the ministry said in a statement.
The blast seriously damaged the building and shattered window panes in neighboring houses within a 500 m radius.
According to the spokesman for the breakaway Georgian republic's press committee, the vehicle was transported to the capital after being removed from a village in one of the buffer zones currently controlled by Russian peacekeepers following the brief military conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August.
Georgia has denied any involvement in the car bomb explosion in Tskhinvali.
"We have not heard anything about an explosion in Tskhinvali," said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesperson for Georgia's Interior Ministry.
