Georgia, Tbilisi, 15 September /corr. Trend N.Kirtskhalia / A total of 372 were killed from Georgian side as a result of Russian agression in August, 2008, Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA) Yekaterina Zguladze and Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia told a joint briefing on 15 September, 2008.
The health minister says 188 civilians were killed, majority of which were killed with firearms, and some were burnt. Nearly all of them have been identified and there's an exact list of victims.
Zguladze stated that 16 MIA officers were killed during Russian agression. "I would like to mention that in recent days, Abkazian separatists and occupants have killed two of our officers in MIA positions."
Kutelia said that, 168 were killed according to Defense Ministry reports. "Nearly 155 of them have already been buried, but 110 of them have been identified yet, identification process on the basis of DNA is going on," he said.
Russian side claims 3,000 or a fifth of Georgian troops were killed.
Large-scale military operations took off in self-proclaimed South Ossetian republic in early hours of 8 September. Georgian troops entered Tsinkhvali. Later Russian forces seized Tsinkhvali and drove Georgian troops into Georgian territory.
On 12 August, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that decision was made on completion of operations destined to drive Georgia to peace.
Decision was made to deploy peacekeeping forces of Russia and international observers to Georgia's territory.
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