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Luanda, January 09, 2010 – Gunmen have opened fire
with machine guns on a bus carrying Togo's football team to the Africa
Cup of Nations in Angola, wounding several players.
Officials say the shooting occurred in the Angolan oil-rich territory of
Cabinda, where rebels have been fighting for independence.
The Angolan government called the incident an "act of terrorism". There
are reports of serious injuries.
Togo is due to play its first cup game in Cabinda on Monday.
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor was on the bus but is unhurt.
In a statement, Manchester City said Adebayor had been "shaken by the
terrible events" but was "unharmed".
The bus was travelling to Cabinda from the squad's training ground in
the Republic of Congo when the shooting happened.
"This was an act of terrorism," Cabinda affairs minister Bento Bembe
told Reuters news agency.
Competition officials said they had not known that the Togolose team had
decided to drive directly to Cabinda.
They said they had expected the squad first to fly to the Angolan
capital, Luanda, and from there to Cabinda.
Shot 'like dogs'
Togo striker Thomas Dossevi told France's RMC radio that several players
were "in a bad state" after the attack.
"We were machine-gunned, like dogs," he said. "At the border with Angola
- machine-gunned! I don't know why. I thought it was some rebels. We
were under the seats of the bus for 20 minutes, trying to get away from
the bullets."
The identities of those injured - who also included team staff - are not
known.
Togo are due to play Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast in their group
matches. Their first game is against Ghana.
Midfielder Alaixys Romao told RMC Togo were now likely to pull out of
the 16-nation tournament.
"No-one wants to play," he said. "We're not capable of it.
"We're thinking first of all about the health of our injured because
there was a lot of blood on the ground."
Source: BBC, Jan 08, 2010
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