Edward Shevarnadze: there are militants in Pankissky gorge, but Georgia will not admit punitive operations in its territory

Georgia will not admit “punitive operations” in its territory, said Edward Shevarnadze on Monday during press-conference in Tbilisi. He said that joint “combing-out” in Pankissky gorge can cause grave consequences for all the country. The President admitted that “hundreds of local militants took part in operations in Chechnya and returned home after that”, “Interfax” reports. According to Shevarnadze, some wounded men stayed in the gorge, help was rendered to them. He thinks that it is difficult to determine now which of them really was a militant, and who was not. “It is necessary to clear it up in cold blood”.