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Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Guram Donadze described the device as a "non-combative" grenade used in military training and said it did not contain explosives.
The device was placed in the crowd about 100 feet from where Bush was speaking. It was not thrown, as was previously believed, Donadze said.
It never posed a danger to Bush and was apparently placed by someone who wanted to scare people in the crowd and attract media attention, Donadze said.
Georgian officials alerted U.S. officials about the incident several hours after Bush left the former Soviet republic, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said.
On Tuesday, Mackin said Georgian security officials told their U.S. counterparts the grenade hit an individual and fell to the ground.
Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said Wednesday the device was a "so-called engineering grenade" found in "inactive mode."
"The preliminary identification is that object was not operational but looks like (a) Soviet-made hand grenade," Bezhuashvili said.
"The goal is clear -- to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. "The goal has been reached and that is why I'm talking to you now."
"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said, referring to Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
"I am not an expert but it was not possible to detonate it there," he said. "Nevertheless, this is a subject of close attention and it is being studied jointly by the Georgian and American sides."
The Secret Service, FBI and State Department are investigating the incident, Mackin said.
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Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Guram Donadze described the device as a "non-combative" grenade used in military training and said it did not contain explosives.
The device was placed in the crowd about 100 feet from where Bush was speaking. It was not thrown, as was previously believed, Donadze said.
It never posed a danger to Bush and was apparently placed by someone who wanted to scare people in the crowd and attract media attention, Donadze said.
Georgian officials alerted U.S. officials about the incident several hours after Bush left the former Soviet republic, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said.
On Tuesday, Mackin said Georgian security officials told their U.S. counterparts the grenade hit an individual and fell to the ground.
Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said Wednesday the device was a "so-called engineering grenade" found in "inactive mode."
"The preliminary identification is that object was not operational but looks like (a) Soviet-made hand grenade," Bezhuashvili said.
"The goal is clear -- to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. "The goal has been reached and that is why I'm talking to you now."
"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said, referring to Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
"I am not an expert but it was not possible to detonate it there," he said. "Nevertheless, this is a subject of close attention and it is being studied jointly by the Georgian and American sides."
The Secret Service, FBI and State Department are investigating the incident, Mackin said.
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