A man was wounded in a blast north of the breakaway South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, on September 7, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported.

The report is unclear whether a mobile phone had been used to detonate the explosive device or the device had been hidden in the phone. The victim, Igor Kokoev, 24, according to the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee, found a mobile phone on the ground. After hearing it ring, he tried to pick it up, whereupon it exploded.

Mikhail Mindzaev, the interior minister of breakaway region, said it was a terrorist act masterminded by the Georgian side as part of its drive to destabilize situation on the eve of celebration of the unrecognized republic’s independence day on September 20.