South Ossetia rebels down Georgia helicopter-agency

MOSCOW, Sep 3 (Reuters) The armed forces of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia shot down a Georgian military helicopter today, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, quoting rebel authorities and peacekeepers in the conflict zone.

''The helicopter was shot down by South Ossetia's air defences,'' Interfax quoted an unnamed South Ossetian armed forces official as saying. The wreckage was believed to be in a mountainous area covered with forests, he said.

Reuters LL KP1942