A South Ossetian agent, having infiltrated the Georgian secret service, helped to uncover a terrorist plot aimed at civilians and officials in Tskhinvali, officials in the breakaway region have claimed.

Tbilisi has already rejected the allegation as “ridiculous”, saying they are aimed at undermining upcoming talks in Tbilisi in the framework of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC).

Secessionist authorities said on August 1 that they had recovered two directional fragmentation mines, known as MONs, 200 meters from the headquarters of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in Tskhinvali.

Speaking at a news conference on August 3, the chief of South Ossetia’s Committee for State Security (KGB), Boris Attoev, said the terrorist plot had been “authorized by Tbilisi.”

“Information about the location of the explosives were made available thanks to a South Ossetian KGB officer, Inal Kolyev, who had been working undercover within the Georgian secret service for the past six months,” Attoev said at a press conference, which was also attended by Georgian journalists.

Inal Kolyev, who was actually present at the news conference, said he himself had planted the explosives at a spot selected by Georgian security services operatives overnight on July 25.

Officials in Tbilisi, however, said the allegations were a propaganda stunt.

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, said the recovery of explosives hadn't even been confirmed.

He said at a news conference in Tbilisi that a joint report, by Russian, Ossetian and Georgian peacekeepers and OSCE observers, had not confirmed the presence of explosives at the site.

Bakradze said Tskhinvali was looking for an excuse not to participate in the JCC session in Tbilisi scheduled for August 9-10.

“We refuse," he said, "to take these allegations seriously, as they are obviously attempts by Tskhivali to heighten tensions in the region and thwart the JCC talks.”