MOSCOW, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces has been removed from his post due to the situations in the country's renegade region of South Ossetia and a US-educated Georgian will likely replace him, Itar-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.

    Givi Iukuridze, who took the post in February this year, was dismissed because the Georgian leadership is not pleased with his work in dealing with the simmering tensions and latest conflicts between Tbilisi and the South Ossetia, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania was cited as saying.

    Iukuridze, 48, will be appointed a military attache in a foreign country, possibly Russia, according to Itar-Tass.

    Giorgi Khaindrava, state minister for separatist conflicts, said Iukuridze has resigned because of developments in South Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali where 16 Georgian soldiers are reportedly killed over the past month.

    "We should not have sustained such losses," the Georgian minister said.

    Zhvania noted that a team comprising new army leaders who has received military education in the United States will be set up.

    "We believe that the General Staff can work more actively, and we are hoping that the new General Staff leaders will be a united and active team," he said.

    Georgian mass media reported that Vakhtang Kapanadze, the current deputy chief of General Staff who had been educated in the United States will be the most likely candidate to replace Iukuridze.

    Iukuridze, a 48-year-old career officer with a 30-year service record, said Wednesday that he had been taking orders from the leaders of his country and was willing to further serve Georgia.

    South Ossetia, which won de-facto independence in a separatist war in 1992, has sought to integrate into the neighboring Russia despite Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's pledge to reunitethe country.

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

    The latest week-long fighting, which broke out despite a ceasefire agreement reached on Aug. 13 between the two sides, cameto a stop overnight Friday after Georgia pulled out its troops from the conflict zone. Enditem