Craters show Russia just missed Georgian pipeline

By Mark Trevelyan

AKHALI-SAMGORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russian planes dropped bombs this month within 15 metres (50 feet) of a pipeline that British oil company BP was in the process of reopening through Georgia, according to witnesses.

Residents on Friday showed Reuters correspondents deep craters alongside the pipeline, which runs between Azerbaijan's capital Baku, on the Caspian Sea, and Georgia's Black Sea port of Supsa.

Reuters reported on August 12 that Georgia had accused Russia of bombing the pipeline, although without causing serious damage. Russia denied any such attacks.

"They started dropping the bombs at seven o'clock in the evening of the 11th," said Adam Zaridze, 26, a herdsman.

"In one day they dropped 42 bombs," he said. "They were black planes ... The cattle ran all over the place. Some of the cattle were killed."

A woman suffered a fatal heart attack from fear, he said.

Next to a marker post above the underground pipeline, in a parched, open landscape 25 km (15 miles) from the border with Azerbaijan, three craters were visible within 15 metres of it. The largest was about three metres deep and eight in diameter.

A line of craters could be seen running perpendicular to the pipeline for a distance of more than one km. In one place, cattle were grazing beside a churned-up area larger than a soccer pitch, with two large craters in the middle.