Georgian State Security Minister Refutes Al-Qaeda Bases in Pankisi Gorge

The Georgian State Security Ministry denies the French Interior Minister's statement that functional centres of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation are located in the Pankisi Gorge.

"Tbilisi has a better view of the Pankisi situation than Paris does," Valery Khaburzania, Georgian State Security Minister, bluntly told journalists on Wednesday. However, he presented no facts on the matter.

As it is known, at Monday's meeting of G8 interior and justice ministers in Paris French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy said that Al-Qaeda functional centres might have been moved from Afghanistan to Chechnya and Georgia.