2, 000 dead in fighting

Some 200 Jews living in the area of the town Gori, near the South Ossetia border, were advised to evacuate to the Georgian capital after the outbreak of hostilities with Russia two days ago, according to a Jewish Agency statement released Saturday.

The statement added that most of the Jews had heeded the warnings and were en route to Tbilisi, and that the rest of the country's 12,000 Jews reside mainly in the area of the capital.
The Jewish Agency advised that it was working in full co-ordination with the Foreign Ministry, which on Saturday advised Israelis not to travel to Georgia, and urged any Israelis currently in the area to contact the ministry.

Fighting raged in breakaway South Ossetia for a second day Saturday as Russia sent hundreds of troops into the separatist province, threatening to bomb more Georgian military bases to stop the bloodshed Moscow said has claimed 2,000 lives.



Russian jets attack Georgian town

Russian jets have bombed a Georgian town amid a deepening crisis over the breakaway South Ossetia region.

Georgia says 60 people died in Gori when the bombs hit residential buildings as well as military targets.

Russian officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed in South Ossetia. Georgia denies the figure, which cannot be independently verified.

Reports say Russian PM Vladimir Putin has stopped in Russia's North Ossetia region on his return from the Olympics.

He arrived in the capital Vladikavkaz to discuss the influx of refugees from the conflict in South Ossetia, Russian media said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier that his country was seeking "to force the Georgian side to peace".

Russia's ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, said there could be no "consultations" with Georgia until Georgian forces returned to their positions and re-established "the status quo".
Accounts differ over who controls South Ossetia's capital, with Moscow saying it has "liberated" Tskhinvali.

In another development, separatists in Abkhazia - Georgia's other breakaway region - said they had launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian forces in the Kodori Gorge.



Putin: Georgia trying to drag other nations into its 'bloody adventures'

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin defended Russia's incursion into South Ossetia on Saturday and urged Georgia to immediately stop "aggression" against the breakaway rebel region.

Putin accused Georgia on Saturday of seeking "bloody adventures" and trying to drag other countries into a military conflict in South Ossetia. "Georgia's aspiration to join NATO...is driven by its attempt to drag other nations and peoples into its bloody adventures," he said during a meeting in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz. Parts of the meeting were shown on television.

Georgia called for a cease-fire earlier on Saturday after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region. U.S. President George W. Bush said Russian attacks on Georgia marked a "dangerous escalation" of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Bush the only solution was for Georgian troops to quit the conflict zone.