Tbilisi, 28 October: Chief of the Joint Staff of the Georgian armed forces Gen Zaza Gogava has said that Georgian armed forces managed to shoot down 19 Russian aircraft in the course of the August events (Russian-Georgian war).

At a session of the ad hoc parliamentary commission which is to investigate the August events, Gogava said that "19 is a confirmed number which is corroborated by evidence".

He noted that "more Russian aircraft were also shot down but they managed to reach their aerodromes and are not included in the aforementioned number."

Gogava said that no Georgian military aircraft was damaged and none of the pilots was harmed in the course of the hostilities.

"Casualties among the troops appeared only after the Russian aviation attacked the bases of the air forces," the general noted.

Besides, according to the information of the Russian side, four (Georgian) fighter aircraft were lost during the repulsion of the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia.