Cross border raid into Namibia

A group of armed bandits, some of them wearing uniforms of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), launched a pre-dawn raid across the Angolan border into Namibia on Wednesday and raided three local homesteads, ‘The Namibian’ reported on Thursday. It said no-one was injured in the raid which occurred at the border town of Shankara, some 90 km east of the Kavango regional capital, Rundu. “There were around 10 bandits and three were in FAA uniforms,” said one of the villagers. “They cleaned out the houses by taking food, clothing and bedding.” The newspaper said people living further east of the village had reported hearing heavy shelling across the border in Angola. Cross-border incidents have increased since December last year when Namibia granted the FAA the right to use its territory to launch attacks against UNITA rebels in southern Angola. The newspaper said more than 60 people had been killed in banditry attacks on villagers and motorists. Dozens more have been maimed in landmine explosions planted in Namibia near the Angolan border.