Railway Bridge Linking Georgia, Abkhazia Blown Up

October 25, 2008 6:28 a.m. EST

Tbilisi, Georgia (AHN) - A railway bridge linking Georgia and the breakaway province of Abkhazia was blown up Friday isolating Georgian refugees in a district within the separatist region from the rest of the country.

Georgia's interior ministry accused Russian forces of destroying the Shamgona-Tagiloni bridge between Gali in Abkhazia and Zugdidi district in Georgia.

"Such actions are aimed at isolating the population of Gali district from the rest of Georgia," Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Agence France-Presse.

Abkhazians authorities and forces have allowed ethnic Georgians to return to their homes in Gali after the 1992-1993 war between the region and Georgia that killed and displaced thousands of civilians.