TBILISI, Aug 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A group of some 250 Chechen activists is reportedly approaching the Georgian border to cross into the independence seeking republic, sources close to the Chechen activists in the Pankisi gorge region bordering Chechnya said Saturday, August 24, 2002.

However, the Georgian authorities disputed the figure, putting the number at no more than a few dozen, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Russian news agency Interfax quoted military sources as saying that 250 fighters under Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev were approaching the border with Russia, but were still some 10 to 20 kilometers (six to 12 miles) away.

On Friday, August 23, tension flared between Georgia and Russia after Tbilisi accused Russian air forces of launching cross-border raids near the Pankisi gorge region bordering Chechnya and killing at least two residents.

Georgian President Shevardnadze warned that "if the attacks continue, Georgia will have to use every possible means to put an end to them," and his Foreign Minister Irakli Menagarishvili denounced what he said was a "bloody crime by the Russian army."

Moscow, however, rejected the charges, and an unnamed foreign ministry source said that Georgian officials were accusing Russia so as to cover up a botched operation by their own side.

On Saturday, August 24, the Georgian prosecutor's office said it was starting an inquiry into the alleged bombing, for crimes against humanity, premeditated murder, violation of international air regulations and violation of national air space.

"All the proof, including the recordings by our air defense forces, showing the violation of our air space will be sent very soon to our Russian counterparts," said a spokesman for the national security ministry, Kika Laliachvili.

Russia rejected being behind the air attacks, but the attack on Friday, was confirmed by the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE), a pan-European security body.

OSCE officials in Tbilisi said in a statement that observers had seen unidentified "objects" flying southwards in groups near the Russian-Georgian border and heard explosions a few minutes later.

Some 200 people protested against the bombing in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Saturday.

Georgia accused Russia of violating its air space on five previous occasions in recent weeks.

Moscow believes Chechen independence seekers are using the gorge as a rear base to launch attacks on its forces in Chechnya and accused Tbilisi of failing to crack down on the activists.

Relations between the Russia and Georgia have been steadily deteriorating since a large group of Chechen fighters based in the gorge launched an attack on Russian troops on July 27, killing eight border guards.

In ground developments, a Russian soldier and a policeman were killed and four other people injured in the Chechen capital Grozny, according to Russian police sources cited by RIA-Novosti agency.

It said unknown gunmen opened fire on Russian forces who were carrying out a sweep of the Zavodski area of Grozny.

The agency said some of the gunmen were killed when the Russian forces returned fire, without giving more details.

Also in Grozny, a Chechen police lieutenant, who was working with the Russians, was shot dead while driving his car and his weapons were stolen, Interfax reported, quoting the Chechen Interior ministry.

RIA-Novosti also reported that two activists, who opened fire after being stopped for an identity check in northwest Chechnya, were killed by Russian forces.

The agency said quoting military sources that the rebel death toll in a "clean-up operation," launched in recent days by Russian forces near the town of Bamut near the Chechen-Ingushetia border had reached 25.

There was no way of checking the claims independently.

Russian troops stormed into Chechnya in October 1999 in what Moscow termed an anti-terrorist operation that has since unraveled into a brutal guerrilla war with daily casualties on both sides.