Tbilisi - At least six deaths have been reported in the heaviest fighting in years in the Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia, officials said Saturday.

The heavy exchange of fire near the South Ossetian capital Tskinvali also saw at 13 people wounded, the Interfax news agency reported.

Georgia has claimed that Russian soldiers took part in the skirmishes, an allegation that a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry described as a "filthy provocation." (dpa)