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Dozens, not thousands killed in South Ossetia!
TBILISI
19/08.08

The number of civilians killed in fighting in South Ossetia amounts to ‘dozens’ rather than thousands as claimed by Russian officials in initial estimates, a leading human rights group said on Monday.
“Our estimate does not confirm the official figure. We believe we are talking about dozens rather than thousands,” a researcher for Human Rights Watch, Anna Neistat, told AFP.

“We have a rough estimate based on hospital figures and eyewitness testimony in the worst affected areas.” Neistat, senior emergencies researcher for the New-York based organisation, said she had been in South Ossetia, mainly around the regional capital Tskhinvali where fighting was concentrated, for a week. “We keep hearing official statements of several thousands dead and this is not serious and is irresponible. It does not help to bring clarity to what happened there and bring justice to the victims,” she said.

Russia said 1,600 were killed in South Ossetia while South Ossetian separatist authorities have put the toll at more than 2,000.

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