Georgia declares 'state of war'

Georgia's parliament has approved a decree saying the country is in a "state of war", as hostilities with Russia escalated over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The decree by Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, was announced on Saturday and is to remain effective for 15 days.

At the same time, Georgia called for a ceasefire as Russia bombed targets outside South Ossetia and 30,000 people tried to flee the fighting.

Nika Gvaramia, the Georgian justice minister, read the decree.

"First to announce the state of war on the whole territory of Georgia, second the term for the state of war to be announced for 15 days, the third, with regards of intoduction of the state of war mobilisation to be announced and the Georgian military force to be used to prevent the military aggression," he said.

Georgia said a Russian air raid had "devastated" the Black Sea port of Poti. Russian jets have also carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around the Georgian town of Gori.

Hours later, Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, touched down in North Ossetia and described Russia's military intervention as "well-founded, legitimate and even necessary".

Mounting casualties

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from Gori, 30km outside South Ossetia, said: "Nobody here suspected it [Gori] would come under attack.

The Reuters news agency reported that at least one bomb hit an apartment block, killing five people.

"Civilians were hit very hard by these attacks, allegedly targeting military facilities but not doing a very good job of it," Hull reported.