A wounded Georgian woman lies in front of an apartment building, damaged by a Russian airstrike, in the northern Georgian town of Gori, yesterday. According to a photographer, the wounded woman was later helped by her neighbours and evacuated to a safe area. - AP

TBILISI, Georgia (AP):

Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into the separatist province of South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns yesterday in a major escalation of the conflict that has left scores of civilians dead and wounded.

Georgia, a staunch United States ally, had launched an offensive Friday to retake control of breakaway South Ossetia. Russia, which has close ties to the province and posts peacekeepers there, responded by sending in armed convoys and combat aircraft.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow yesterday that some 1,500 people have been killed, with the death toll rising.

hundreds estimated dead

The figure could not be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the fighting estimated that hundreds of civilians have died. They said most of South Ossetia's provincial capital, Tskhinvali, was in ruins, with bodies lying everywhere.

Russian General Vladimir Boldyrev claimed in televised comments Saturday that Russian troops had driven Georgian forces out of the provincial capital. Witnesses confirmed that there was no sign of Georgian soldiers in the streets.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed a cease-fire yesterday. As part of his proposal, Georgian troops were pulled out of Tskhinvali and had been ordered to stop responding to Russian shelling, said Alexander Lomaia, secretary of his Security Council.

Russia did not immediately respond to Saakashvili's proposal. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said earlier that Moscow sent troops into South Ossetia to force Georgia into a cease-fire.

Lomaia said there had been direct fighting between Russian and Georgian soldiers on the streets of Tskhinvali. He estimated that Russia sent 2,500 troops into Georgia. The Russian military has not said how many of its troops were deployed.

appartments ablaze

Russian military aircraft also bombed the Georgian town of Gori on Saturday. An AP reporter who visited Gori shortly afterward saw several apartment buildings in ruins, some still on fire, and scores of dead bodies and bloodied civilians. The elderly, women and children were among the victims.

"Georgia is facing Russia's military aggression," Saakashvili said, noting that Russian forces were attacking areas outside South Ossetia. "Georgian authorities support a cease-fire and separation of the warring parties."

The fighting threatens to ignite a wider war between Russia and Georgia, which accused Russia of bombing its towns, ports and air bases. Georgia, a former Soviet republic with ambitions of joining NATO, has asked the international community to help end what it called Russian aggression.