TSKHINVALI, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian authorities are concealing the deaths of 29 servicemen during recent clashes, a source in the South Ossetian defense ministry said on Monday.

The conflict between Georgia and its breakaway republic of South Ossetia intensified on August 1-2 as South Ossetian authorities accused Georgian forces of shelling its capital, Tskhinvali, while Georgia blamed the separatists for provoking armed clashes along the de facto border.

"The Georgian side is concealing its casualties," the source said. "According to data provided by Georgian residents... a total of 29 people from the Georgian side were killed [in clashes on August 1-2]. There were no civilians among them - they were all servicemen."

Tbilisi has said that at least nine Georgian citizens and one policeman were wounded in a series of border gunfights.

South Ossetia says six people were killed and 15 injured in mortar and sniper attacks by Georgian forces on Tskhinvali. Georgia has denied using snipers, and says it only retaliated against South Ossetian rocket propelled grenade attacks.

South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Hundreds died in the bloody conflict that followed.

Russia has stepped up its support for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic, in recent months, angering Georgia's pro-Western leadership, which has pledged to bring the regions back under central control.