Moscow/Tiblisi, Georgia  - The first western mediators in Tiblisi to work for an end to the conflict between Georgia and Russia late Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose nation hold the rotating EU presidency, and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The next step would be for all the wounded to be treated during a ceasefire, Kouchner said.

Moscow/Tbilisi - Russia on Sunday intensified airstrikes and a naval blockade against Georgia, as international diplomats sought ways to bring a ceasefire to the Caucasus province South Ossetia.

Three Russian air force Su-25 bombers struck an airfield adjacent to a military aircaft factory outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi shortly after dawn, causing damage but inflicting no casualties, a senior Georgian official said.

Moscow, Aug 10: Georgia has reportedly withdrawn its forces from the separatist region of South Ossetia to positions at or south of those held when conflict started earlier this week.

According to an Interior Ministry spokesman, Russian troops had not entered Georgia from South Ossetia, but fighting was continuing, as reported by BBC.

As many as 2,000 people may have been killed and 30,000 made homeless as the chaotic conflict between Georgian and Russian forces in the pro-Moscow enclave of South Ossetia entered its second bloody day on Saturday.

Beijing - China on Saturday called for a ceasefire in Georgia's South Ossetia region and expressed "serious concern" over the escalating conflict there.

"China is seriously concerned about the worsening situation and armed conflict in South Ossetia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We call on the relevant parties to keep restraint and cease fire immediately," Qin said.

Moscow/Tbilisi, Georgia - The war between Russian and Georgia expanded on Saturday morning, with fighting spilling outside the Caucasus province of Ossetia, and both sides moving reinforcements to the region.

The fiercest fighting was in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, where street fighting and artillery exchanges continued sporadically throughout the night.

Intense howitzer and tank fire in the vicinity of the town was audible by mid-morning on Saturday.

Georgian television showed images of hundreds of rockets and heavy artillery shells crashing into Tskhinvali. Shelling reduced entire city blocks to rubble, according to eyewitnesses.

Moscow/Tbilisi, Georgia - Russian aircraft carried out airstrikes overnight Friday against targets near Tbilisi, according to reports early Saturday from Georgia.

The conflict over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region raged on as the Georgian Air Force base at Vaziani was bombed, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, citing the Georgian Interior Ministry.

There were no initial details about casualties or damage at the air base, about 20 kilometres south-east of the capital.

Attacks by air were also reported at a military base in Senaki in western Georgia and in Poti, a port on the Black Sea.