Second separatist group claims Togo football team attack

LUANDA, Jan 12, 2010 (AFP) - A second separatist group on Tuesday claimed it was behind last week's deadly shooting on the Togolese football team in Angola's oil-rich enclave of Cabinda.

LUANDA, Jan 12, 2010 (AFP) - A second separatist group on Tuesday claimed it was behind last week's deadly shooting on the Togolese football team in Angola's oil-rich enclave of Cabinda.

The attack has already been claimed by Rodrigues Mingas, head of the Forces for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Military Position (FLEC-PM), one of the many guerrilla groups battling for independence in the northern province.

But a larger group known as the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Armed Forces of Cabinda (FLEC-FAC) on Tuesday said they had opened fire on Togo's convoy on Friday, killing two of the squad.

"We are not terrorists, the attack did not target our Togolese brothers," said Jean-Claude N'Zita, who leads FLEC-FAC, adding the intended target was the team's Angolan military escorts.

"Every time the Armed Forces of Cabinda sees an Angolan convoy, they open fire," he said.

N'Zita dismissed Mingas's faction as "opportunists".

The chief executive officer of the 2010 World Cup Organizing Committtee-South Africa, Danny Jordan, gives a press conference on January 12, 2010 in Johannesburg to address the issue of the January 8 attack on the Togolese team in Angola before the opening match of the 2010 Nations African Cup in Angola (AFP photo)
The chief executive officer of the 2010 World Cup Organizing Committtee-South Africa, Danny Jordan, gives a press conference on January 12, 2010 in Johannesburg to address the issue of the January 8 attack on the Togolese team in Angola before the opening match of the 2010 Nations African Cup in Angola (AFP photo)

Other news