PEREVI, Georgia: Dozens of Georgians crowded onto a rickety bus Monday, clambering over one another to flee this remote mountain village, which has become a flash point of mounting tensions on the boundary of South Ossetia.

They left behind a nearly deserted village, whose remaining residents are afraid to come out onto the streets for fear of attracting the attention of Ossetian soldiers patrolling the area. Russian troops continued to withdraw from the main checkpoint at the western edge of Perevi, leaving Ossetians in charge of a tense population.

Darejan Bakradze, 50, removed most of her valuables from Perevi on Monday morning, but returned in the afternoon to look after her mother-in-law. Passing the checkpoint, she grew pale and shaky at the sight of Ossetian soldiers.

“I want the Russians to come back,” Bakradadze said. “They were perfect people.”

European monitors urged both sides to remain calm on a day marked by tension along the boundary with South Ossetia. Two Georgian policemen were killed outside the village of Dvani when a remote-controlled mine exploded near their car, according to Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry. When a patrol arrived to investigate, a second mine exploded, wounding three more policemen, he said.

Ambassador Hansjörg Haber, head of the EU monitoring mission, called the attack “an unacceptable breach of the Sarkozy-Medvedev agreement.” He was referring to the peace deal brokered by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and endorsed Sept. 8 by the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, after the brief war between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

“Today’s attack risks escalating the still-tense situation along the administrative boundary lines,” Haber said Monday. “We repeat our call on all sides to prevent further provocations.”

The South Ossetian interior minister, Valeri Valiyev, said his forces were not involved. “It is Georgian territory,” he said. “What happens there has nothing to do with us.”

Though no violence has occurred in Perevi, home to about 1,000 ethnic Georgians, it was the focus of angry rhetoric Monday from Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, the separatist capital. Both sides claim it is on their territory. The European Union said in a statement Saturday that it is “clearly” on the Georgian side of the line.

Ibragim Gaseyev, the South Ossetian deputy minister of defense, said the village has belonged to South Ossetia “for countless centuries,” and promised to “give an adequate answer to any provocative act by the Georgian side on the territory of our republic.”

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia said his country would protect the village.

“We will do everything not to yield to the occupants’ provocations,” Saakashvili said Monday. “We must understand that Georgia began a hard and long fight for the liberation of its lands. And in this fight we must act together with our partners.”

Irina Gagloyeva, a spokesman for the South Ossetian government, said that Perevi was not controlled by Tskhinvali before the war, but that it had become necessary to protect it because Georgians “are trying to create tension here.” She said its residents were friendly to South Ossetia, and “have more than once applied for citizenship” in the enclave.

But Georgians in Perevi said they were frightened. The school has shut down, and most of the women and children have left. Alik Dzhokhadze, 24, said he and his friends were toasting the withdrawal of Russians when Ossetian soldiers entered the village, shooting in the air. Dzhokhadze said he had been hiding in his house for two days.

Lomauridze Zina, 48, had watched many of her neighbors leave the village and gathered for comfort with several families who remain. She said she did not want to leave for fear that her house would be robbed.

Violence has been reported from both sides in recent days. Last Thursday, the South Ossetian authorities reported that a villager, Oleg Gigolayev, was fatally shot by a sniper from the Georgian side of the line. The Georgian authorities denied any involvement.

International Herald Tribune