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Georgian March Ends

TBILISI () -- Georgia's former defense minister Tengiz Kitovani and his supporters were detained after government forces stopped their march to recapture the rebel region of Abkhazia, a senior Georgian official said.


"Kitovani and some 370 other people were detained and disarmed in western Georgia some 250 kilometers from Tbilisi," First Deputy Interior Minister Dzhimi Mikeladze told reporters Saturday.


A convoy of 12 buses transporting some 500 fighters loyal to Kitovani and ex-prime minister Tengiz Sigua, headed for Zugdidi, near the Abkhazian border Friday, "to start military operations against Abkhazian separatists."


Georgian radio said five men were wounded when the first six buses were stopped near the towns of Gori and Osiauri.


Some 150 people were disarmed.


The other buses were stopped further west, Interfax said.

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