MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union has condemned as an act of terrorism the explosion in the South Ossetian capital that killed seven Russian peacekeepers.

The Foreign Ministry of France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, issued a statement late Friday that denounced continuing violence against both sides in the conflict.

"The European Union president condemns the acts of violence that have occurred in recent days in Georgia, whether it be the murder of Georgian policemen or the act of terrorism in Tskhinvali in which the victims were Russian," the statement read.

The peacekeepers were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded outside their headquarters in Tskhinvali.

A South Ossetian spokesman said Friday that the vehicle had been transported to the capital after it was removed from a village in one of the buffer zones currently controlled by Russian peacekeepers following the brief military conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August.