More than 30 die in ambush

A suspected UNITA rebel attack on a convoy of civilian buses on Saturday has killed at least 38 people and wounded 52 others, Angolan state radio has reported. BBC reported on Monday that the attack took place near Sumbe in Kwanza Sul, about 300 km from the capital, Luanda. Twelve soldiers were killed in an attack on a military vehicle on the same road last week and UNITA claimed responsibility for another attack not too far away on a train three weeks ago. More than 250 people died in that attack. A survivor of Saturday’s attack told state news agency Angop that a group of men, some of them in uniform, had attacked their convoy of two buses and a minibus about 48 km from Sumbe. The survivor was quoted as saying that about 20 armed men opened fire on the convoy and robbed passengers of their possessions before setting alight the three vehicles. No one had claimed responsibility for the attack by late Monday. Several ambushes have been reported in Angola in recent months, where road travel is extremely dangerous. While many attacks have been blamed on UNITA, however, highway bandits have used the ongoing war for financial gain and have attacked convoys transporting valuable cargoes of food and other necessities.