GEORGIA TBILISI GUNMEN OPEN FIRE ON PRESIDENT SHEVARDNADZES CAR

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(9 Feb 1998) Natural Sound • • Troops have moved into the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi after an assassination attempt on President Eduard Shevardnadze on Monday night. • • Officials say gunmen opened fire on Shevardnadze's car, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding several others. • • But they say Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, escaped unharmed from the attack. • • Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze escaped unharmed Monday night when gunmen opened fire on his car, badly damaging the vehicle during a gun battle • that left one bodyguard and an attacker dead. • • Police said the 70-year-old was returning to his official residence in the southern part of the capital when gunmen opened fire on the four-car motorcade. • • The front of Shevardnadze's car was badly damaged when it was hit, head-on, by a rocket-propelled grenade. • • Two other cars in the motorcade were badly burned. • • A bodyguard, who was in the same car as the President, was killed. • • Two other bodyguards were injured in the 10-minute gun battle that followed, officials said. • • The attack took place about a kilometer (point-6 of a mile) from Shevardnadze's residence. • • Police believed the gunmen had been hiding behind trees on a small hill overlooking the road where the President's car was travelling. • • Shevardnadze was escorted to his residence in a police car. • • Georgian authorities said they did not know who was responsible for the attack or what might have motivated it. • • Police and troops flooded the area, searching vehicles and buildings after the attack. • • Two tanks stood guard at the scene, which was illuminated with floodlights. • • Shevardnadze later appeared on state television, talking to President Geidar Aliyev of Azerbaijan, who called to express concern about the attack. • • He said the dead attacker had not been identified. • • This was the second attempt in four years to kill Shevardnadze, who once served as Soviet foreign minister before Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union. • • Shevardnadze was cut by flying glass when a bomb exploded in his motorcade on the 29th of August, 1995, as he was leaving for a ceremonial signing of the country's • constitution. • • Georgian prosecutors have since charged 14 people in connection with the attack. • • The suspects included Shevardnadze's former supporter Dzhaba Ioseliani. • • The former Soviet republic has been wracked by crime, coups and civil war and • Shevardnadze has made many enemies while trying to dilute the power of • assorted warlords and secessionists. • • He is best known as the Soviet foreign minister who helped orchestrate perestroika under former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. • • Shevardnadze has led his native Georgia since 1992. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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