Georgian soldiers shot, mocked us: refugees

[maddezmom]

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia — South Ossetian refugees on Sunday described being shelled and shot at and forced to run for their lives — leaving homes, family members and most of what they had behind.

They talked of hiding in the woods, being mocked by Georgian soldiers and passing the dead on the roadside.

The hundreds of refugees from the fighting in the Georgian breakaway region sought shelter in Russia on Sunday. They were among thousands who fled the region, and in particular the capital city of Tskhinvali, in recent days as Georgian forces battled for control.

Marina Dudayeva, a woman in her early 20s, fled from Tskhinvali wearing only her bed clothes and a pair of plastic slippers. On Sunday she found herself at a leafy, run-down summer camp near Alagir in the Russian region of North Ossetia, just across the border from South Ossetia.

more:http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/1100601,georgiaside081008.article

[maddezmom]

1. Chaos reigns in Georgian rebel city after battle

TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Only the rumble of distant artillery fire punctured the silence enveloping Tskhinvali on Sunday, but residents in the main town in Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region wondered how long the relative calm would last.

Lined with rubble from buildings devastated in the fighting, the town remained on edge, its residents venturing out from cellars for the first time on Sunday following three days of ferocious fighting.

Many expressed shock as they picked their way through streets strewn with rubble and broken glass from wrecked building facades -- and with bodies still lying uncollected.

Some residents said scores remained buried under masses of concrete and metal.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LA555621.htm