Two were killed and another was seriously injured yesterday in an explosion in a village near Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing the Georgian Interior Ministry.

Gia Mebonia, administrative head of Tsalendzhikha district, and a local resident, died on the way to hospital, and a police officer was seriously injured, Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.

According to the Georgian side, Mebonia was inspecting a house damaged by overnight shelling from Abkhazia when the blast hit early yesterday.

However, Abkhazia denied the allegation. "There have been no incidents or armed attacks in the communities near the Georgian border over the past 24 hours," a Abkhaz police source was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, another breakaway region of Georgia, broke from central rule during wars in the early 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and their self-proclaimed independence won recognization from Moscow recently.

Russia recognized the independence of the two regions on Aug. 26, two weeks after a brief war with Georgia.