STRIPPED TO HIS UNDERSHIRT IN A Tbilisi hospital emergency ward, his face and hands cut by glass splinters, Georgian head of state Eduard Shevardnadze still managed to look his usual dignified and composed self after a powerful explosion nearly claimed his life last week. A remote-controlled car bomb was detonated just 27 m away from where he was sitting in his official Volga sedan outside the parliament building in the Georgian capital. The blast set his car afire, but Shevardnadze was miraculously dragged to safety just seconds before the Volga's gas tank blew up. The bomb wounded 10 other people, destroyed other vehicles and badly wrecked the parliament building. As Shevardnadze told his supporters the next day, "God saved not only me but also the country."

At the time of the explosion--the 16th terrorist incident in Georgia this year--Shevardnadze was going to sign a new Georgian constitution, creating a presidency invested with greater powers than he now wields as head of state. The reason for the bombing was obvious: once the constitution was signed, the way would have been open for Shevardnadze to formalize his position in November's presidential election. It is not clear who set off the bomb, but the Georgian leader has many opponents who blame him for losing the war in the breakaway ethnic enclave of Abkhazia two years ago. Shevardnadze has also made enemies through his attempts to bring an end to the political chaos that has reigned in the former Soviet republic since President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was ousted in a coup early in 1992. This year Shevardnadze launched a campaign to stem crime, root out corruption and disarm private militias. After the blast, security forces arrested a key supporter of Jaba Ioseliani, head of the Mkhedrioni (Horsemen) paramilitary group, which the Georgian leader has ordered disarmed. The forces confiscated weapons and drugs from Iose liani's headquarters.

When Shevardnadze returned to his homeland in 1992, the former Soviet Foreign Minister termed the move "the most risky thing I have done in my life." His words have certainly proved pro phetic. As he visited government forces fighting against supporters of the deposed Gamsakhurdia in the summer of 1992, a shell destroyed a tank right next to his car. The following year, Shevardnadze escaped death in Sukhumi, the besieged capital of Abkhazia, when separatists trained missile fire directly on his headquarters.

The day after the attack, Shevardnadze appeared at a public rally, vowing that the new constitution would be signed and that he would run for President. He defiantly promised to do everything possible to stop what he called "the beginning of a coup in Georgia." Shevardnadze clearly intends to take advantage of the abortive assassination to crush his foes. In the aftermath of the attack, armored vehicles rolled out to patrol the streets of Tbilisi, and security services rounded up dozens of suspects, but the battle-scarred Shevardnadze would be the first to acknowledge that the threat of more terrorist attacks and continuing political strife was far from over.

--By Yuri Zarakhovich/Moscow