"The fire stopped at approximately 7 a.m. Moscow time. The South Ossetian party has suffered no casualties," he reported over the phone.
According to him, several private houses were destroyed in Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali, and the village of Pris suffered significant destruction.
At 10.05 p.m. on Monday Tskhinvali and its suburbs were under fire from four 120-mm cannons, the officer said. "They fired from the Georgian village of Mervekisi," he maintains.
"During the fire the South Ossetian defense minister contacted the [Georgian] defense minister concerning the fire, who said that these units were not subordinated to him, but to the Georgian interior minister," the officer said.
The Ossetian party warned that if the fire did not cease the firing points would be destroyed. "Some time later the fire ceased. The Ossetian party did not open fire," he pointed out.
Earlier Alexander Sukhitashvili, police chief of the Shida Kartli region bordering on South Ossetia, told RIA Novosti that skirmishes in the conflict zone went on throughout the night. A Georgian serviceman was killed and three wounded, he said.
According to Sukhitashvili, on Monday evening the bypass road connecting the Maloye Liakhva and Bolshoye Liakhva gorges was under fire from the Ossetian villages of Sarabuk, Kokhat and Triakana.
"After two hours of fire, at approximately 11 p.m. Moscow time Georgian Interior Minister [Irakly Okruashvili] ordered retaliatory fire," he said.
