SUKHUMI, November 15 (RIA Novosti) - Abkhazian border guards were involved on Saturday in a shootout with a group of "Georgian saboteurs" in the Gali district of the rebel republic, a police spokesman said.

According to Lourens Kogoniya, at around 1:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT), a border guard patrol came across an armed group of six people near the village of Saberio, on the de facto border with the undisputed part of Georgia.

"A shootout took place. According to unconfirmed information there were deaths on the Georgian side," he said, adding that the group had then fled back across the border.

Abkhazia, along another rebel republic, South Ossetia, broke away from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s amid armed conflicts that claimed thousands of lives.

Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war after Georgia attacked South Ossetia on August 8. Moscow recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states in late August. The majority of residents in both provinces have had Russian citizenship for a number of years.

The first round of international talks in Geneva on the Georgia conflict began on October 15. However, the talks were suspended until November 18 over "procedural difficulties."

Russian Foreign Minister said on Saturday that the talks should concentrate on pressing security issues in the region.