WORLD IN BRIEF : GEORGIA : Troops Sent to Hunt Minister’s Kidnapers
Authorities sent several thousand troops to hunt down anti-government rebels who rejected an ultimatum to free the republic’s kidnaped interior minister. Georgian leader Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who has vowed to crush the “forces of evil” in his former Soviet republic, dispatched 3,000 troops from the capital of Tbilisi to track down the rebels in the west of the country. Georgia blames former President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, toppled in a bloody revolt last January, for masterminding the abduction Tuesday of a dozen officials, including Interior Minister Roman Gventsadze. Gamsakhurdia denied responsibility.
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