TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgia's defense minister said a helicopter in which he was riding came under fire Sunday as it flew over the separatist province of South Ossetia, but it landed safely and nobody was hurt. Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili spoke hours after South Ossetian officials said their forces shot down a Georgian government helicopter that invaded the breakaway region's airspace. Georgian military officials swiftly denied it was shot down.
Georgia's Interior Ministry also said Sunday that in a similar incident last week, a surface-to-air missile was fired at a helicopter escorting a U.S. Senate delegation led by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The aircraft was not damaged and U.S. authorities had been notified, the ministry said. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said she had no information about the incident.
Speaking to reporters in Gori, a town near South Ossetia, Okruashvili said the Mi-8 helicopter came under large-caliber machine-gun fire from a forested area during a flight to a base in western Georgia. He said the craft was hit and the pilots struggled to control it and keep it flying for 15 minutes, but were able to land safely with no casualties. He showed reporters a helicopter with several bullet holes in its body. |