People wait at airport to leave as fighting intensifies in Sth Ossetia

1. Pan of airport terminal interior 2. Man sleeping in airport chair with luggage 3. Woman lying on grass at airport 4. Various of passengers inside airport terminal 5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Irina (no last name given), Passenger "I believe that it was not necessary to do it (war). I am very emotional for the Georgian people. I have my husband here. I am also emotional for Russians because my mother is there. I am not able to say something right now because I am starting to weep... I would like to ask everybody to stop the war because nobody wants it." 6. Pan of airport terminal interior 7. Entrance to airport departures terminal STORYLINE: Fighting raged for a second day in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia on Saturday, as Georgia's interior ministry accused Russia of launching new air attacks on three military bases and key facilities for shipping oil to the West. Tblisi Airport was crowded with people trying to get out of the Georgian capital on Saturday, after fighting intensified in the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by Russian warplanes during the night and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. He also said two other Georgian military bases were hit and that warplanes bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility. The reported bombardments came as Georgian forces fought separatists and Russian forces in South Ossetia for a second night. Hours earlier, on Friday, a Georgian warplane was shot out of the sky about 30 kilometres north of South Ossetia's provincial capital Tskhinvali. In Tbilisi airport people were trying to leave the Georgian capital as the fighting escalated. "I believe that it was not necessary to do it (war)," said one passenger. "I am very emotional for the Georgian people. I have my husband here. I am also emotional for Russians because my mother is there. I am not able to say something right now because I am starting to weep... I would like to ask everybody to stop the war because nobody wants it." Russia dispatched an armoured column into the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Friday after Georgia launched a surprise offensive to crush separatists there. Witnesses said hundreds of civilians were probably killed, and most of the capital of Tskhinvali was in ruins. The fighting, which has devastated Tskhinvali, threatens to ignite a wider war between Georgia and Russia, and to escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia of aggression against his country. Russia said it needs to act to protect its peacekeepers and civilians in South Ossetia, where most residents hold Russian passports. The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and US President George Bush, were in Beijing. The timing suggested Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfil his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia - a key to his hold on power. The rebels seek to unite South Ossetia with North Ossetia, which is part of Russia. Saakashvili agreed the timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor. Diplomats issued a flurry of statements calling on both sides to halt the fighting and two emergency sessions were held at the United Nations Security Council in New York on Friday, seeking to prevent an all-out war. Russian troops went in as peacekeepers but Georgia alleges they now back the separatists. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/29870cb06f2739f1eb2b4afd01ae062b Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork