Fighting in Georgia's separatist pro-Russia region of South Ossetia killed another three Georgian servicemen and wounded five in the escalating conflict warily watched by Moscow and the West. Georgia's Rutsavi 2 television report could not be immediately confirmed, but it reflected a rise of violence in an impoverished region of the former Soviet republic that was broken up by a series of civil wars linked to ethnic ties more than a decade ago. The latest unrest comes as Georgia's new leader, President Mikhail Saakashvili, tries to regain control over his state after leading a bloodless revolution that now sees Tbilisi turning toward the West, but some of its regions still allegiant to Russia. Amid the renewed shelling and gunfire, Russian and Georgian officials suggested that a third force -- one which was not faithful to either party -- was running over South Ossetia in order to spark a conflict. The comments suggested that Tbilisi and Moscow may be trying to reach a compromise in the tense Caucasus standoff. "Today military from both sides looked for the so-called 'batmen' in the conflict zone," said Lev Mironov, a Russian representative in a joint commission trying to mediate the conflict. "They need to be captured by joint efforts and be put behind bars or destroyed," Mironov said. Georgian Defense Minister Georgy Baramidze appeared to agree. "There is a well-prepared armed group of about 15-20 people in the conflict zone -- the South Ossetian side agrees with this. During the night they shoot at positions of both sides, trying to provoke all-out war." But the South Ossetians said this unnamed force was made up of Georgian troops. "There is a third side that wants war and we must neutralize them together with Russian peacekeepers," said South Ossetian representative Boris Chochiyev. The spiraling violence has prompted Saakashvili to call for international peacekeepers to provide security for civilians and ensure that conditions for talks on a permanent settlement were met. The latest series of clashes also led to a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Repeated fighting has undermined the internationally brokered ceasefire signed late last week between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in an intense drive to defuse the crisis in the region. The four sides were due to meet again on Wednesday in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. Inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians, South Ossetia has enjoyed de facto independence after an armed conflict with Tbilisi following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Georgia also has another separatist region, Abkhazia, which also declared independence from Tbilisi after a brutal civil war in the early 1990s. **PHOTO CAPTION*** A Georgian soldier observes from a car near the village of Ergneti in the Georgian province of South Ossetia. (AFP)