Chief of peacekeepers' staff killed by explosion in South Ossetia

On October 3, as a result of a powerful explosion in Tskhinvali, Colonel Ivan Petrik, chief of the united staff of peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone, was lost. He was killed by splinters in his study; the car exploded right under his window.

The message of the Department of Press Service and Information of the Ministry of Defence of Russia runs: "On October 3, at 4:00 p.m., during regular patrolling, Russian peacekeepers detained, in the vicinity of Ditsi village, two VAZ-2109 cars and four persons without documents. At examination, fire-arms and grenades were detected. One of the cars had Georgian license plate."

"For holding examination and establishment of the personalities of the detainees, they were convoyed to the location of the United Staff of the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces," the ITAR-TASS quotes the statement of the Ministry of Defence. "In the course of examination, one of the cars blew up. By a preliminary estimate, the power of the explosive made 20 kg in trotyl equivalent."

The "Kommersant" newspaper reports that apart for Ivan Petrik 6 more peacekeepers were killed; and 8 militaries were wounded.

President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity has named the incident in Tskhinvali to be "a purposeful terror act committed by the MNS of Georgia." The Russian Ministry of Defence finds the explosion at the staff of Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinvali to be a carefully pre-planned act of terror aimed to disrupt the fulfilment of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan. In their turn, the MIA of Georgia treats the explosion as a Russia party's provocation.