JAVA, Georgia, Aug 9 (AFP): Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared a "state of war" Saturday as his troops battled it out with Russian forces over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Russian warplanes bombed and virtually destroyed a key Georgian port and hit another city as the administration in South Ossetia, which is backed by Moscow, said 1,600 people had lost their lives in the capital Tskhinvali alone.
"I have signed a decree on a state of war. Georgia is in a state of total military aggression," Saakashvili told a televised meeting of his national security council.
Russia's defence ministry denied its fighter jets were bombarding civilian areas and confirmed two of its planes had been shot down over Georgia. Tbilisi said six Russian fighters had been downed.
Georgia and the administration in South Ossetia traded claims of control over Tskhinvali since early Friday but Russia said Saturday it had "liberated" the breakaway capital after airlifting paratroopers into the city.
"Tactical battalions have completely liberated Tskhinvali from Georgian military forces," General Vladimir Boldyrev, the head of Russia's ground forces, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Russia backs the separatist government and sent in tanks and troops Friday in response to pro-Western Georgia's military campaign to re-establish control over the province which broke away in the early 1990s.
The South Ossetian government said more than 1,600 people had been killed in the fighting which has heightened international fears of a return to the wars of the 1990s in the volatile Caucusus region.
As the troop build-up and clashes intensified, a senior military official said Georgia planned to pull its entire 2,000-strong military contingent from Iraq within the next three days.
"We are actually in the stage of preparing our departure," Colonel Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia's military operations in Iraq, told the news agency.
The United States and the European Union prepared a joint a delegation to seek a ceasefire but Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said his country had launched a military operation "to force the Georgian side into peace."
Georgia said a Russian aerial bombardment had "completely devastated" the Black Sea port of Poti in attacks that the country's UN ambassador likened to "a full-scale military invasion".
Poti is a key port and staging post for moving oil and other energy from the Caspian Sea to the West.
Russian warplanes also bombed the Georgian city of Gori, killing civilians, Georgia's Public TV reported.
Georgian officials said Russian planes Friday bombed military targets around the country as well as a railway junction and an airport.
Georgia has only confirmed 30 dead amongst its forces while Russia says three more troops were killed Saturday taking its toll to 15.
The Russian leader held a new emergency meeting on the conflict at the Kremlin.
More news from Beijing adds: US President George W. Bush called Saturday for an end to Russian bombing in the conflict over South Ossetia and urged all sides to cease hostilities.
"We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a standdown by all troops," Bush told reporters in Beijing, where he is attending the Olympic Games.
"We call for an end to the Russian bombings and a return by the parties to the status quo of August 6th," he said.
