In villages near Tskhinvali, Parfitt writes, there are many burnt houses, some of them still burning. Concerning Tskhinvali itself, as Parfitt notes, although the information that the city is completely razed to the ground is rather overstated – some quite untouched areas are met there – there are at the same time the zones of complete destruction. In particular, to the south of the center of Tskhinvali, the journalists saw a street completely destroyed by “Grad” anti-craft missiles.
According to the information of the Russian side and South Ossetian authorities, over 1600 people died in Tskhinvali and neighbouring villages as a result of bombardment by Georgian artillery and air raids by Georgian air force.
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