MOSCOW, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A soldier from the Georgian peacekeeping contingent was killed and two others were wounded overnight Tuesday in fire exchanges in the country's separatist region of South Ossetia, three days after a cease-fire agreement went into effect, Russian news agencies reported, citing Georgian officials.

    Itar-Tass quoted an unnamed official from Georgian Defense Ministry's press service as saying that South Ossetians opened fire at the Georgian positions and at several Georgian villages onMonday evening.

    "The shooting was interrupted several times, was resumed again and continued until 03:00, on Tuesday," Itar-Tass quoted him as saying.

    Georgian troops had to fire back and South Ossetian units also sustained casualties, he added.

    South Ossetia, however, denied that it had violated the ceasefire accord on the previous night.

    "The Georgian side has been shelling the territory of South Ossetia since the moment of the signing of the ceasefire protocol," Itar-Tass quoted Boris Chochiyev, head of the South Ossetian part of the Joint Control Commission for settling the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia, as saying.

    "It was also the case last night," Chochiyev noted.

    Georgian central authorities and its breakaway South Ossetia signed the cease-fire agreement on Friday. However, The shelling and shooting persisted in the following consecutive three nights. Two Georgian servicemen were killed after coming under fire from South Ossetian armed groups late Sunday and early Monday.

    South Ossetia has sought to integrate into the neighboring Russia despite Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's pledge to reunite the country by taking the region and another breakaway republic, Abkhazia, back under central control.

    The simmering tensions between Tbilisi and South Ossetia erupted in late May when Saakashvili briefly sent troops into the region. Enditem