Georgia grenade was real and threat to Bush - FBI

TBILISI - A grenade thrown toward President George W Bush during a visit to Georgia last week was a threat to the American leader and only failed to explode because of a malfunction, the FBI said.

In a statement, a Federal Bureau of Investigation official at the US embassy said the grenade, thrown while Bush made a keynote speech in Tbilisi's Freedom Square on May 10, had been live and landed within 30 metres of the president.

"While the president ... was making his remarks on Freedom Square, a hand grenade was tossed in the general direction of the main stage and landed within 100 feet of the podium," said C Bryan Paarmann, the FBI's legal attache at the embassy.

"We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of both the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as well as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at this event," he said in the statement.

Paarmann said a reward was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

"This hand grenade appears to be a live device that simply failed to function due to a light strike on the blasting cap induced by a slow deployment of the spoon activation device," the FBI statement said.

It contradicted an account by Georgian police at the time who said the grenade was a dud, left at the spot to sow panic among the tens of thousands who turned out to greet Bush.

In Washington, Bush was told about the initial results of the FBI investigation on Tuesday night and was updated about it by FBI director Robert Mueller on Wednesday morning.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had "absolutely not" lost confidence in the Secret Service charged with protecting him.

"We have full trust in the Secret Service and their ability to address these matters," he said.

The White House had said at the time that Bush, who had visited Georgia to show support for its pro-Western government, had never been in danger.

"The Secret Service didn't consider him to be (in danger) at that time. We've learned more since that time," McClellan said when asked to explain the discrepancy.

He said the investigation into the incident was continuing.

The grenade was thrown while Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, joined by their wives, were addressing the teeming crowd. Bush received a rapturous welcome as he hailed the volatile ex-Soviet country as a "beacon of liberty."

The crowd at Freedom Square was the largest since supporters of Saakashvili massed there for the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that piloted him to power.

At the time reporters noted the crowd was so large people overwhelmed metal detectors set up in the back, although officials insisted the people closest to the president would have gone through the weapons sweep.

A bullet-proof shield had been set up around part of the podium, with a large gap directly in front of the microphone.

Like the Caucasus as a whole, Georgia has been turbulent since the fall of communism. Earlier that day, Bush had told a news conference he backed Georgia's efforts to gain the return of two pro-Moscow rebel regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgian officials said the grenade had hit a bystander and fallen to the ground, but had no leads as to who had thrown it.

"The grenade hit a girl's head. Other details are under investigation. All we know is that the grenade was RGD-5," said Interior Ministry Spokesman Guram Donadze, referring to a type of Soviet-designed fragmentation grenade.

Paarmann said the grenade had been wrapped in a dark, colored handkerchief and he called for witnesses to come forward.

A reward of 20,000 laris -- roughly US$11,000 -- was on offer for information "leading to the arrest and conviction of this individual."

Georgia borders Russia's troubled Chechnya and has gained world attention as part of the route of a major US-backed pipeline between Caspian oilfields and world markets.

- REUTERS