Georgia withdraws troops from South Ossetia

ERGNETI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgia has withdrawn its forces from breakaway South Ossetia, where they had been fighting Russian troops for control, the Georgian interior ministry said on Sunday.

The pullout followed three days of fighting in a Georgian push to take control of the pro-Moscow enclave from separatists, which prompted Russia to pour troops into South Ossetia and launch air strikes inside Georgia.

A Georgian military convoy carrying troops and towing heavy artillery was seen withdrawing from South Ossetia through the village of Ergneti, just inside Georgian-controlled territory south of the separatist capital Tskhinvali.

"They have been withdrawn, completely," Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Reuters.

A Kremlin spokesman said: "We saw media reports and are now examining the real situation."

The conflict in the heart of the volatile Caucasus has raised alarm in the West, vying for influence with Russia over crucial oil and gas supply routes in the region.

Russia poured in troops after the Georgian assault on Friday, dramatically upping the stakes in a long-running stand-off with the ex-Soviet republic over its pro-Western policies and its drive for NATO membership.

Russia bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian capital early on Sunday and Tbilisi said the Russians were also massing troops in Abkhazia on the Black Sea, another rebel region that broke with Tbilisi in the early 1990s after a war.

A Georgian ceasefire offer on Saturday went unheeded by Moscow, which demanded a complete pullback to positions before fighting began.

An EU-U.S. delegation headed for Georgia to try to broker an end to the conflict.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili visited Ergneti, on the border with South Ossetia, after Tbilisi said it had withdrawn its forces.

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