TBILISI (Combined Sources)–A bomb blast tore through a section of railway line connecting east and west Georgia on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The blast on the Tbilisi-to-Zugdidi line occurred at around 3:30 a.m., two hours before a passenger train was due to travel the route, interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP. No one was hurt.
“The damage is serious but there are no serious interruptions in the functioning of the Georgian railway,” Utiashvili said. “Investigators are working on the site.”
The explosion was close to the Georgia-Abkhazia border but there was no immediate evidence of Abkhazian involvement.
Utiashvili said the section was on a minor branch of the railway leading to a regional hub.
The explosion came after Georgia’s political opposition last week briefly blocked Tbilisi rail station as part of a weeks-long campaign against President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Thousands of opposition supporters have been rallying in the Georgian capital since April 9 to demand Saakashvili’s resignation over his handling of a war last year with Russia and alleged anti-democratic moves.
Georgia fought a five-day war with Russia last year after it attempted to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Moscow subsequently recognised both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries.