Fourteen dead in Angolan rebel attack

By the BBC's Justin Pearce in Luanda

Fourteen people were killed in a rebel attack on an Angolan village near the coastal city of Benguela, an army spokesman has said.

The attack by suspected Unita rebels on the fishing village of Baia Farta was carried out on Saturday - apparently timed to coincide with celebrations marking the beginning of Angola's independence struggle.

At the same time, rebels also succeeded in entering Ndalatando, the capital of Kwanza Norte province in the north of the country about 300 kilometres (180 miles) east of Luanda.

Killings and abductions

In a statement broadcast on Angolan radio stations, an army spokesman said rebels had killed 11 people in Baia Farta and three of the attackers were themselves killed by government forces.

About 10 people in the town were injured.

150 people have been abducted by rebels

The attackers also kidnapped 150 people and stole about 50 head of livestock, the spokesman said.

Looting

Other reports say that many stores and homes in the town were looted. The police headquarters and the local police chief's home were singled out as targets.

It could not be independently confirmed that the attackers were Unita rebels, but the fact that so many people were abducted suggests that the attack was the work of the rebels rather than bandits.

Villages in Benguela province have often been attacked by rebels and bandits in the past few months.

Unita's hallmarks

In Ndalatando, a humanitarian source said that Unita guerrillas entered the town in the early hours of Saturday.

They got as far as a residential area about five kilometres (three miles) from the city centre before being pushed back by the Angolan security forces.

An army statement confirmed that a group of rebels had entered the city, but denied that it had been captured and said it was calm.

A Unita statement claimed the rebels had killed more than 60 members of the security forces, but the humanitarian source said there were no reports of deaths or injuries.

MPLA political heartland

This incident is the latest in a series of attempts by Unita to strike at important cities in the north-west of the country, the political heartland of the ruling MPLA.

Unita's rebels are blamed for the attacks

In the past nine months, the cities of Caxito and Uige have each been attacked at least twice.

Monday 4 February is a symbolic date holiday in Angola, marking the day when the MPLA began its struggle against Portuguese colonial rule.

In this light, two attacks at the start of the long weekend look like an attempt by Unita to cast a shadow over the celebrations.