Explosions and gunfire were heard in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday as armed counter-terrorist units raided an apartment block on the outskirts of the city, an AFP reported.
Several suspected members of a terrorist group “refused to surrender and opened fire from automatic rifles and threw hand grenades on counter-terrorist units,” Georgia’s security service said in a statement.
One soldier was hospitalized with gunshot wounds, the service’s spokeswoman Nino Giorgobiani said in a televised statement.
“One suspect has been arrested and a special operation is under way to detain several others who, according to a preliminary information, are not Georgian nationals and are members of a terrorist group,” Giorgobiani said.
“Investigation is under way both in Georgia and abroad to establish the suspects’ criminal links,” she added.
Rustavi-2 television station reported that the wounded soldier had died during surgery.
Georgia has no recent history of major terror attacks.
