'Grenade' thrown at Bush in Georgia

WASHINGTON - A device described as a possible hand grenade was thrown within 30m of President George W Bush during his speech in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Tuesday, Georgian authorities told the US Secret Service.

The Secret Service said it could not independently confirm whether a device was thrown at the president and whether it was a real hand grenade or a fake. It said it was investigating the incident, along with the FBI, the State Department and Georgian authorities.

"After the president departed the country of Georgia, we were notified by host-country authorities that during the president's speech earlier in the day in Tbilisi, a device described as a possible hand grenade was thrown within 30m of the stage," said Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin.

Georgian authorities told the Secret Service that the device hit someone in the crowd and fell to the ground. It did not detonate. A Georgian security officer picked up the device and removed it from the area, Mackin said.

"At this time, the Secret Service has not seen the reported device. We have agents on the ground in Tbilisi working with the FBI, State Department and host-country security authority to look further into this report," Mackin said.

In his speech to tens of thousands of people jammed into Tbilisi's Freedom Square, Bush hailed Georgia's new democracy as a "beacon of liberty" to chants from the crowd of "Bushi, Bushi."

He later departed Tbilisi and returned to the White House without incident.

The Caucasus is home to a string of local conflicts arising from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia borders Russia's troubled Chechnya region and is on the route for a US-backed pipeline linking Caspian Sea oilfields to world markets.

- REUTERS