Georgia Official Says Russia Captured Georgia Town

`They have captured the city of Gori,` the secretary of Georgia`s security council, Kakha Lomaia told Reuters by telephone.

A Georgian official said on Monday that Russian forces had captured the Georgian town of Gori, 60 kilometres from the capital Tbilisi, but a Reuters witness saw no troops in the empty town.

"They have captured the city of Gori," the secretary of Georgia's security council, Kakha Lomaia told Reuters by telephone.

A Reuters reporter in Gori said: "We are right now driving through the town and I see no trace of troops or military vehicles. It is absolutely deserted."