Shevardnadze Fires Security Chief After Bombing in Georgia
Eduard A. Shevardnadze fired his security minister and the minister’s deputy on Saturday for failing to stop a car bomb that exploded in Shevardnadze’s motorcade.
The Georgian leader made the announcement at a special session of the Supreme Council, or Parliament, yards from where the bomb exploded Tuesday. Lawmakers immediately confirmed the dismissals, 145-8.
“They failed to prevent terrorism in Georgia,” Shevardnadze said of Igor Giorgadze and his deputy, Temur Khashishvili.
Shevardnadze, who suffered only facial cuts during the apparent assassination attempt, said 25 lawmakers had signed an appeal urging him to fire the officials. No replacements were immediately named.
Revaz Kipiani, the deputy prosecutor general, said Saturday that the bombers used a remote control device to detonate about 20 pounds of an industrial explosive inside a car. Kipiani said the attack clearly targeted Shevardnadze.
Authorities later discovered several thousand rounds of ammunition, machine guns and pistols inside the Supreme Council building, in the offices of lawmaker Dzhaba Ioseliani. An aide was arrested.
Ioseliani, who leads the paramilitary force Sakartvelos Mkhedrioni that Shevardnadze has ordered disarmed, denied involvement in the blast.
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