Government soldiers recaptured the important town of Khobi Thursday after three days of bloody street fighting with rebels trying to oust Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze, officials said.
There were casualties on both sides, but the government said it had no figures. Troops using tanks and artillery destroyed several rebel armored vehicles during the battle, officials said.Government forces took the town in western Georgia in late October, but were driven out by a rebel attack Saturday. The government had said Monday that the army retook the town but conceded later that the battle continued.
The rebels are fighting to restore Zviad Gamsakhurdia as president. He was Georgia's first democratically elected president but was ousted in January 1992 by critics who accused him of taking on dictatorial powers.
Government forces had to take Khobi before they could attack Gamsakhurdia's nearby stronghold of Zugdidi.
Russian and Georgian government officials held talks Thursday on unloading Russian troops and vehicles in the Black Sea port of Poti as part of a major expansion of Moscow's involvement in the civil war.
Russian navy commanders declined to say how many soldiers would land from a fleet of nine warships.
At Shevardnadze's request, Russian soldiers were deployed last week along railway lines that supply other parts of Georgia as well as the former Soviet states of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the east.
"I believe it is necessary for the Russians to assist us to control highways, airports and other communications systems," Shevard- nadze said early Thursday on television.
The Russians say they are not taking part in operations against the rebels, but have fired back at rebel forces when attacked.
The rebels say Russian troops are fighting for the Georgian government.
Russian officials said rebels had aimed attacks at one 20-mile stretch of railroad.
The ITAR-Tass news agency said one railway section close to Poti was seized and mined Wednesday by rebels equipped with armored vehicles.