Two dead in attack on Togo

Luanda - Two people were killed in Friday's attack on Togo's team buses in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, the assistant coach and the squad spokesperson, an official of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Saturday.

The official, speaking from Cabinda, said that earlier reports that one of the bus drivers had been killed when the two vehicles were machine-gunned were incorrect.

"Communications chief Stanislas Ocloo and assistant coach Abalo Amnalete died at four o'clock this morning," the CAF's press official for Togo, Kodjo Samlan, said after arriving in Cabinda with federation colleagues.

Nine players and officials of the squad were reported wounded on Friday when the buses came under fire as they crossed into Cabinda from the Congo Republic to play in the African Nations Cup.

The attack was claimed by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), which has been fighting for decades for the independence of the oil-rich territory cut off from the rest of Angola by Democratic Republic of Congo.

FLEC said the team's military escorts were the intended target, adding that "This operation is only the start of a series of targeted actions that will continue in all the territory of Cabinda."

The players, headed by captain Emmanuel Adebayor, were to decide on Saturday whether to stay on for their matches, but Kodjo said a pullout "was not planned for the moment."

Togo, one of Africa's top sides, are scheduled to start their campaign against Ghana on Monday in Cabinda, which is to host seven Nations Cup matches this month despite long-running security concerns.