Two armed robbers attacked three Chinese in Georgia's capital Tbilisi early Friday morning, inflicting serious head injuries upon one of the victims.

The wound was painful but not life threatening and did not cause brain damage.

An operation removed a small piece of broken bone near the man's eye. The incident did not damage his eyesight.

The injured victim remains hospitalized for further treatment, while the other two escaped the attack unscathed.

Gu Ping, a consul with the Chinese embassy in Tbilisi, said the three victims are business people from Fuqing County in East China's Fujian Province, where working abroad is a longstanding local tradition.

Xue Xiping, in his 40s, and his two young nephews who are both in their 20s, recently settled in Tbilisi to run a store.

The three went out to look at their new apartment after they had finished work at about 10 pm local time on Thursday.

They became the target of two armed robbers because Xue was carrying a wallet with him.

The robbers first fired a shot skyward and then at Xue with their homemade gun after he resisted when they tried to grab the wallet.

They ran away immediately and the victims were unable to see their faces in the dark.

Gu said her embassy has contacted Georgian authorities, urging the police to bring those responsible to justice.

However, she is not optimistic about the robbers' capture as the country's case-solving rate is relatively low.

She warned Chinese citizens to "adopt a cautious attitude towards doing business in Georgia."

She said the country's social order is lacking and there have been a number of robbery cases aimed at foreigners in the past several months.

"This one is the most violent one though," she said, recalling another attack half a year ago, in which the owner of a Chinese restaurant had his teeth broken.

Since there has been an increasing number of Chinese citizens doing business in Georgia, Gu urged them to pay more attention to their personal and property safety.

Source: China Daily