Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk
January 12, 2010 - Togo's shaken footballers prepare to go home after machine-gun ambush. Team withdraw from Africa Cup of Nations, but organisers insist that the tournament will still go ahead.
Togo's traumatised footballers have pulled out of the Africa Cup of Nations after the death toll from a machine-gun ambush on their team bus rose to three.
But organisers in Angola dismissed calls for the tournament to be abandoned because of security concerns and said the opening ceremony and first match would go ahead tomorrow as planned.
The bloodshed represented the worst possible start to African sport's biggest year. The ripples were felt in South Africa, due to host the World Cup in just five months, where officials moved quickly to describe it as an "isolated terrorist incident".
However, the separatist guerrilla group claiming responsibility said tonight it had repeatedly warned the footballing authorities that the territory was at war, and it would now strike again. "This operation is only the start of a series of targeted actions that will continue," said Rodrigues Mingas, secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec), which has fought for control of the northern enclave and its oil and diamond reserves for more than 40 years. Speaking from exile in France, Mingas added: "We are in full action. The country is in a state of war so it's perilous for those who want to go to Cabinda."
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor was among the players trapped under their seats for up to half an hour as their bus was raked with gunfire. Togo's assistant coach, Amalete Abalo, and media officer, Stanislas Ocloo, were killed in the hail of bullets, the country's football federation said . The driver of the bus also died.
Reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale was evacuated to Johannesburg for medical treatment, where his condition was described as serious but stable. Seven other people suffered injuries.
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