In June and July 2008 a series of bombings took place in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, killing 4 and injuring 18 people.
The four people killed were Jansukh Muratia, acting chief of the Abkhazian security service's Gali department, Sukhran Gumba, employee of the border department of the Abkhazian security service, Anzor Lagvilava, interpreter of the UN Mission in Georgia in the Gali district and Iveta Toria, local resident.
[1] The June 29 and 30 bombings were likewise described as terrorist attacks, perpetrated with the aim of destroying the tourism season in Abkhazia.
[12]In response to the July 6 Gali bombing, President Bagapsh accused Georgia of having chosen the way of state terrorism.
Officials in Tbilisi and Georgian media offered as alternative explanation that the bombings were the result of a power struggle among different criminal groups in Abkhazia.
Georgian MP Nika Rurua, a deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said that the blasts were aimed at “terrorizing the local population” in order to increase anti-Georgian sentiment in the region.
[14]In reaction to the July 2 bombing near the Russian peacekeepers' post, Aleksander Diordiev, aide to the commander of the peacekeeping troops, accused the Georgian side, saying: The actions of the Georgian secret services are of a provocative nature, which aim at destabilizing the situation in the southern part of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone and also at provoking the peacekeepers[6]In response to the Gagra bombings, Tbilisi based political analyst Paata Zakareishvili stated that she thought it unlikely that they were the result of a struggle between criminal groups.