Suspects released over Lusaka bombing

An Angolan and three Zambians arrested two years ago on charges of bombing the Angolan embassy in Lusaka were acquitted by Zambia’s High Court, the state-run ‘Zambia Daily Mail’ reported on Tuesday. The charges against Angolan Silva Quiberto, Elias Phiri, Danny Phiri, and Martin Mashodo were dropped due to insufficient evidence, AFP reported the newspaper as saying. The four were arrested and detained after bombs were found in Lusaka, including one that exploded at the Angolan embassy, leaving one person dead. Meanwhile, Zambia has reportedly released 35 Angolan soldiers, many of them held since late last year after they illegally entered Zambian territory while fighting UNITA rebels, news reports said. Angolan church-run radio Ecclesia said 23 of the soldiers had been held since last December, and the rest had been in prison since July. Last week, the Angolan and Zambian defence ministers met, and said they were close to solving the dispute over the arrest of each other’s soldiers who had crossed over the two countries’ mutual border.