Soldiers loyal to Georgia's Military Council on Friday entered the Black Sea port of Poti, one of the last strongholds of ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the Tass news agency said.
It did not say if there was any resistance from troops loyal to the ousted president, or how deep into the town the newly arrived soldiers had penetrated.But the Georgian military commander, Lt. Gen. Levan Sharashenidze, predicted that Gamsakhurdia forces in Poti would surrender and that fighting would die out in all of Georgia in two to three days.
Earlier, Tass had quoted the prefect of Poti, Tengiz Baramidze, as saying that Gamsakhurdia supporters had threatened to blow up the port in Poti if the city was attacked.
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, militants attacked checkpoints manned by Georgian Interior Ministry troops and the local helicopter regiment in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, reportedly killing several people, Tass said.
Tass quoted local sources as saying the militants were not getting orders from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, but had acted on their own.