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Georgia

Bomb deaths raise tension in Georgian rebel region

TBILISI, July 14 (Reuters) - A bomb blast killed two teenagers and wounded several people in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region on Friday, a sign of mounting tension between Tbilisi and pro-Moscow separatists.

"It was an act of terror masterminded by the Georgian side and aimed at a defence ministry official," the rebel region's Emergencies Minister Boris Chochiyev told Reuters.

He said the two teenagers had died in the regional capital Tskhinvali when a remote-controlled explosive device went off as a defence ministry official was leaving his house. The official survived, he said.

"Georgia is carrying out a plan aimed at eliminating South Ossetia's high-ranking officials," Chochiyev added.

On Sunday, South Ossetia's security chief died when a similar bomb detonated as he was opening his garage.

Georgia, which lost control over the pro-Russian South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions in bloody wars in the early 1990s, denied the charges.

"We have nothing whatsoever to do with these killings," said Giorgy Khaindrava, the Georgian minister in charge of dealing with the regions that have broken away from the Caucasus state.

Former imperial master Moscow has peacekeepers stationed in South Ossetia. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov warned earlier this week Moscow would not hesitate "to shield them".

Ivanov said at the time that sources in South Ossetia had told Russian security officials that Tbilisi could try to regain South Ossetia by force during the Group of Eight summit of major industrialised nations in St Petersburg this weekend.

Georgia's pro-Western president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has promised to regain control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a vow that has caused friction with Moscow.