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Five explosions went off on both sides of the de-facto border between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia today, in the latest sign of growing tensions between Tbilisi and separatists.

A series of incidents in the past week, involving bombs, mortar shelling and shootouts have been matched by sharp condemnations from Moscow and Tbilisi, as both sides blame each other for thawing what had been frozen conflicts.

Georgia's rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from central rule during wars in the 1990s and are flashpoints for tensions with Russia, which provides financial support and has peacekeepers in both.

"Four mines exploded today in the morning nearby to a village called Rukhi, in Georgia's Zubdidi region," Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said.

The fourth explosion went off under a police car as officers investigated the site after the initial blasts, slightly wounding the local deputy police chief.

Georgian television showed the bomb-damaged car and policemen standing nearby at the scene.

There were no reports of any casualties.

The fifth bomb went off in "territory which is de facto controlled by the Abkhaz side in the village of Otobia," Utiashvili said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Saturday to refrain from "stoking tensions" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.