/ 17 February 2000

LANDMINE EXPLOSION KILLS 10

TEN people died and 22 others were seriously wounded when an anti-tank landmine exploded under their vehicle on a road in central Angola, state television reported on Thursday. The mine exploded on Wednesday under a lorry carrying passengers and merchandise along the road between Catabola and Camacupa, 700 kilometres southeast of the capital Luanda. Most of the survivors lost legs in the explosion, including a young girl who lost both her legs. They are being treated in the main hospital at Kuito, the capital of Bie province. One woman in the hospital lost two young boys, her husband and her mother in the explosion. Angola has been in the grips of civil war since independence from Portugal in 1975 and Bie province is one of the most mine-riddled parts of the country. Government forces control the zone where the explosion happened.