Ex-KGB boss wins prez election in South Ossetia

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — A former KGB chief has scored a victory in the runoff presidential election in Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Local election commission chief Bella Pliyeva said Monday that a full vote count showed Leonid Tibilov won with 54 percent of the vote. His rival, presidential human rights commissioner David Sanakoyev trailed with 42 percent.

The mountainous province broke away from Georgia in a war in the early 1990s. Spiraling tensions between Georgia and pro-Russian separatists triggered the August 2008 war, in which Russian troops routed the Georgian military in five days of fighting.

Only a handful of other countries have followed Russia in recognizing South Ossetia's independence.