(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, August 17, 2002) - Georgian State Security Ministry Spokesman Nika Laliashvili stated today at the news briefing that Georgian Internal Troops would be dispatched to Pankisi gorge, where allegedly Chechen fighters, terrorist groups and criminals are hiding.

The State Security Ministry official did not specify the exact date when the troops will be sent in the troubled gorge.

On August 17 Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili visited Akhmeta district, where Pankisi is located, and held a meeting with the local law enforcement agencies. "We plan to launch second part of the special operation in Pankisi, I do not rule out that Internal Troops will be dispatched to the gorge."

The Georgian law enforcers declared in January 2002 on launching special operation in the gorge to crack dawn on criminals harboring there. Since then the situation is not improved in Pankisi anyway.

At the moment Internal Troops are deployed at the entrance of Pankisi gorge, where the checkpoints are located.

Recently the local population of Pankisi demanded to deploy units of Georgian Ministry of Defense (DoD) in the gorge. The DoD has already dispatched the troops to Akhmeta district to hold the large-scale military exercise in the region.