TBILISI, Georgia — Police say the president of Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia has survived an assassination attempt unhurt, but two of his bodyguards have died.
Alexander Ankvab’s convoy came under attack Wednesday when unidentified assailants detonated a land mine and then sprayed the vehicles with automatic gunfire. The regional police said that Ankvab wasn’t hurt, but two of his bodyguards died of wounds at a hospital.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack that comes as Abkhazia is set to hold parliamentary elections next month.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another separatist province, South Ossetia, as independent states after the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war, and has kept its troops there.
Ankvab, elected in August, had survived four earlier assassination attempts.
