OWN CORRESPONDENT, Windhoek | Tuesday 3.00pm.
TWO French children were shot dead and another French national killed when men in combat gear attacked tourist vehicles in Namibia, wounding at least two other people, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
The Namibian government is blaming Angolan rebel group Unita for the attacks.
The parents of the children were injured, one seriously, when their car ran into an ambush on Monday in Namibia’s northeastern Caprivi Strip on the border with war-torn Angola, diplomatic sources in Windhoek said.
Police in the town of Rundu, 200km west of where the incident took place, reported that the attack on two vehicles might have been carried out by Angolan rebels from across the border.
Just after 6pm, the group of armed men held up the vehicles, targetting one of them with a sustained burst of gunfire, as the tourists were returning to central Namibia.
The French embassy in Windhoek confirmed that the ambush had left three dead, but will not give details on the ages of the victims before their relatives had been informed.
Survivors of the attack were due to return to the Namibian capital on Tuesday afternoon.
In Paris, the ministry of foreign affairs said that “two or three” French tourists had been killed and at least two others injured.
Police launched a search for the assailants shortly after the killings, but have yet to report any captures or clashes.
According to Namibian police, the gunmen could well have been Unita rebels whose guerrilla war has spilled over into the border again in recent weeks.
Several clashes and exchanges of mortars between the rebels and Namibian forces have occurred following a Namibian government’s decision in December to allow Angolan army units to use its territory as a springboard for attacks on rebel camps.
The Windhoek press has also maintained that Namibian soldiers were involved in several anti-insurgency operations, including an attack on December 22 on a Unita camp in Angolan territory, in response to mortar shelling which killed one person and wounded four.
The US ambassador in Windhoek recently called on his compatriots to avoid the northeast due to the security risks in the region.
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