Plot to kill Georgian president foiled: Minister

A plot to kill Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by shooting down his helicopter has been foiled, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Friday.

A plot to kill Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by shooting down his helicopter has been foiled, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Friday.

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He said a portable Igla anti-aircraft missile and its launcher had been discovered in the Shida Kartli area, close to the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia and near a regular flight path of Saakashvili's helicopter.

"Near the flight path used by the Georgian President's helicopter in the Shida Kartli region we found a missile launcher. This was attached to a tree and loaded," he said.

"Georgia has averted an assassination, for a reason that is not yet clear, technical or otherwise, the launcher did not work and remained attached to the tree," Merabishvili said.