ANGOLA: UNITA ambushes claim 37 lives

About 37 people were killed and several others wounded last Friday when UNITA rebels ambushed vehicles in two separate incidents along remote stretches of road in Angola, according to a report on Monday by 'Radio Ecclesia' in Luanda. In the first attack, it said 12 people were killed and 16 wounded when two vehicles were ambushed on the road between Lucala and N'dalatando in Cuanza Norte Province east of the capital along the strategic humanitarian route linking Luanda with the besieged government-held city of Malanje. The other attack, also attributed to UNITA, occurred in the Canjala region, 250 km south of Luanda, in which 25 people, 10 of them Rapid Intervention Police escorting the convoy, were killed. Twelve vehicles were burned and several other passengers were reported missing. They were travelling from Luanda to the coastal city of Benguela. The radio broadcast said the Angolan authorities had declined to confirm or deny the incidents. Last week, the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) also reported fresh ambushes along the road to Malanje and in other areas of the country.