Attack on Tskhinvali over, six people killed

VLADIKAVKAZ, August 2 (Itar-Tass) - The Georgian side has stopped its massive fire attack on Tskhinvali which it began at around 21:00 Moscow time on Friday, Tamara Tsagarayeva, a representative of the press and information committee of the unrecognised republic, said on Saturday.

"Both sides have ceased fire and are not shelling the city at the
moment," Tsagarayeva said by telephone from Tskhinvali.

Five South Ossetian residents and a peacekeeper from a North Ossetian
battalion of the joint peacekeeping force were killed as a result of
ongoing fire attacks on Tskhinvali and South Ossetian villages in the zone
of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Another seven people had been killed.
Yuri Morozov, the head of government of the unrecognised republic, had
held an emergency meeting with the leaders of the republic's military and
law enforcement agencies to discuss how to provide security for the
republic's residents.
"Our citizens should feel calm but it's not easy under sniper and
mortar fire. But they should know that the republic is protecting them,"
Morozov went on to say. He added that the Ossetian side intended to give
a strong rebuff to Georgia that has launched a sniper war against South
Ossetia.