10 January,2010 06:46 AM IST | | AFP
Two members of Togo's football squad died after Friday's machine-gun attack on the team's vehicles in northern Angola, an official said on Saturday, on the eve of the African Nations Cup kick-off.
The Togo assistant coach and the squad spokesman died in the assault by hooded gunmen who sprayed the buses with gunfire as they travelled through the restive northern Cabinda enclave.
The attack was claimed by the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), which has been fighting for decades for the independence of the oil-rich territory.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) official, Kodjo Samlan, speaking from Cabinda, said that earlier reports that one of the bus drivers had been killed were incorrect.
"Communications chief Stanislas Ocloo and assistant coach Abalo Amnalete died at four o'clock this morning," he said. Players and others on board, fearing for their lives, cowered under seats for 20 minutes to escape the hail of bullets during the ambush. Squad member Thomas Dossevi said after they had been "fired on like dogs."
"We are all a little shocked and we are asking why CAF (the organisers) were holding games in Cabinda. How can you organise a tournament in a state of war?" Dossevi said.
