Authorities in breakaway Abkhazia accused Georgian of sending into Gali district “saboteur-intelligence squad”, which carried out an attack in a café in the town of Gali on May 28, killing three people.

Two policemen and a local resident were killed after two unknown men opened fire in a café in Gali, according to the Abkhaz authorities.

“It has been established that this crime was committed by members of saboteur-intelligence squad upon the orders from the special services and sent into [Abkhazia] from Georgia,” Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported quoting a statement of the breakaway region’s state security service.

It also said that the Abkhaz law enforcement agencies arrested in March “one of the members of the Georgian saboteur-intelligence squad”, who allegedly confessed of having an intention of targeting Devi Buava, one of the policemen killed in the May 28 attack.

Shota Utiashvili, head of the Interior Ministry’s information and analytical department, denied Sokhumi’s allegations as groundless. “We call on Abkhaz and Russian [authorities] to refrain from this kind of groundless and senseless accusations,” he said.