/ 28 August 2001

UNITA CLAIMS 154 KILLS

ANGOLA’S rebel Unita movement claims to have killed 148 government and six Namibian soldiers in operations in nine of Angola’s 18 provinces, the Lusa news agency said in Lisbon. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said it had attacked a “coalition of Angolan-Namibian troops” on August 19 in southern Kuando Kubango province, killing 13 government soldiers and the six Namibians. It also claimed to have launched an attack on the village of Kakoma, near the central town of Huambo, and to have attacked troops guarding a bridge over the Mussuma river, in eastern Moxico province. More than 250 people died on August 10 when a passenger train was attacked after being derailed by an anti-tank mine east of Luanda. UNITA later claimed responsibility. – AFP