Angolan rebels say attacked aimed at Angolans, not Togo

The rebels who ambushed a bus carrying the Togo soccer team to the African Nations Cup in Angola meant to attack only the accompanying security convoy, not the team, a rebel leader said on Monday.                                           

"This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy," said Rodrigues Mingas, secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC).                                           

"So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda," he told France 24 television.                                           

The FLEC, which has being fighting for independence from Angola for the northerly province of Cabinda for over 30 years, had already claimed responsibility for Friday's attack.