TBILISI (AFP) — A fuel train hit a mine and exploded near the stricken Georgian city of Gori on Sunday as Russia faced renewed European Union pressure to make a complete withdrawal from Georgia.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said the rail track used by the train had been mined and a huge pall of black smoke could be seen across the Gori region after the huge explosion.
"The railway was mined and that was the reason for the explosion," Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP
Acting as chair of the European Union, French President Nicolas Sarkozy telephoned his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday and asked him to withdraw his forces from a key road linking Poti to Senaki in western Georgia.
Sarkozy and Medvedev agreed on the need for an "international mechanism" in the area south of South Ossetia, a statement from Sarkozy's office said.
The Kremlin said it was ready to cooperate with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
clipped from: afp.google.com 