Georgia accused Russia on Tuesday of sending two fighter jets into its airspace and dropping a missile near a village. Moscow denied involvement and charged that Georgian authorities staged the incident to gain an edge in their ongoing conflict with Russia.

Televised footage from an area about 40 miles west of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, showed a deep and 2-foot-wide hole in the ground that authorities said was caused by a missile dropped Monday evening that did not explode. They displayed metal pieces that looked like missile parts.

“This provocation was meant to cause panic, disrupt the peace in Georgia and ultimately change the country’s political course,” Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told reporters. “We will sustain this trial and trials a hundred times greater for the freedom and independence of this country.”

Since taking office three years ago, Saakashvili has sought to steer the former Soviet state on a pro-Western path, and relations with Russia have deteriorated.

London

Brown asks U.S. to free detainees

In a significant policy shift for the British government, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has asked the United States to release five British residents imprisoned at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The request came in a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair sought and obtained the release of nine British nationals held at Guantanamo, but it said it had no responsibility to intervene on behalf of non-citizens who lived in Britain.

Some analysts here saw Tuesday’s policy shift as an attempt by Brown to pursue a tougher stance toward the U.S. in line with Britain’s long-standing opposition to the Guantanamo camp. But the move is likely to be welcomed by the Bush administration, which is eager to downsize Guantanamo and has been critical of countries, including Britain, that have chastised the U.S. for alleged human rights violations at the facility while refusing to accept the repatriation of Guantanamo prisoners.

Karachi, Pakistan

Musharraf decries talk of U.S. attacks

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Tuesday that suggestions the United States might carry out unilateral attacks against al-Qaida fighters on Pakistani soil were counterproductive.

The Pakistani leader’s comments, his first public expression of displeasure on the subject, came as Pakistani troops struck two insurgent hide-outs in the North Waziristan tribal area. Ten suspected militants were killed in the raids, military officials said.

On Monday, President Bush said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Camp David that the U.S. would strike at al-Qaida figures inside Pakistan if it had solid intelligence about their whereabouts, but he did not say whether Pakistan would be consulted. In recent weeks, other administration officials and American presidential hopefuls have suggested that raids aimed at insurgents could be carried out without Pakistan’s consent.