TBILISI (AFP) -- Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia accused Georgian forces on Monday of kidnapping four of its residents, but police said the group had been arrested for suspected drug trafficking.

""The Georgian side took four South Ossetian citizens hostage on July 20,"" the rebel government said in a statement on its website.
The four were detained as they attempted to return to the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, after visiting relatives in the nearby Georgian town of Gori, the statement said.
It said they were being held in retaliation for the detention of a Georgian citizen in South Ossetia on murder charges.
Georgian Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili confirmed that the four were being held, but denied any political motive.
""We strongly deny any political link. This is an ordinary criminal case,"" he told AFP. ""These people are suspected of drug trafficking.""
Tensions over South Ossetia and another separatist Georgian region, Abkhazia, have soared in recent months since Moscow announced it was establishing formal ties with the separatists.
Unrest increased further this month with a series of bombings in Abkhazia, which the Abkhaz leadership blamed on Georgia, and Moscow's admission that it had sent military jets on flights over South Ossetia.
The United Nations Security Council was due to discuss Russian military flights over Georgia later Monday.