AT least 70 people were killed and 15 wounded when armed men attacked the north Angolan diamond-mining town of Chinguvu, close to the Congo border, Lusa reported on Monday. Quoting an unnamed military source who identified the attackers as Unita, the news agency said about 100 rebels were involved in the Saturday assault on a residential area of Chinguvu. A number of local residents were taken away by the attackers. One resident who was able to escape, Albertina Camuenhi, said Chinguvu had not been garrisoned for years and that the only soldiers present were Katangans from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Katangans, who in the past fought against troops loyal to the Kinshasa regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, have since settled in the potentially diamond-wealthy Chinguvu region. – IRIN
Tuesday 17, 2001