Togo pull out of African Nations Cup

Hosting the African Cup of Nations was Angola's chance to show it was recovering from decades of war. But gunmen sprayed bullets at Togo, killing three people and making the team return home before playing any football.

Africa's football championship was expected to open as planned on Sunday, even though other teams were shocked and worried by the ambush of the Togo bus as it entered Angola's restive oil-rich Cabinda province.

"We have goose bumps ... who knows what is going to happen to us," Amade Chababe, Mozambique assistant coach, told AP Television News when the squad passed through Johannesburg en route to Angola on Saturday.

The attack killed an assistant coach, a team spokesperson, and the Angolan bus driver, according to the team and Togo government. Angola Information Minister Manuel Rabelais said on Friday eight team members and one Angolan were injured.

"Despite this, the championship will go on," Angola's Sports Minister Goncalves Muandumba said.

In Togo's capital, Lome, Togo government spokesman Pascal Bodjona said it was difficult to understand why Angolan authorities chose Cabinda for group matches when it knew "the area was a dangerous and risky zone."

Bodjona said nobody informed Togo that it was hazardous to travel by road to Cabinda.

He also demanded an apology from the Angola government and African Cup organizers.

Togo forward Thomas Dossevi told The Associated Press in a phone interview that it will pull out of the tournament and fly out of Angola early Sunday.

In South Africa, the local organizing committee of the World Cup said the attack had no relevance to the football showcase starting in June. Spokesman Rich Mkhondo said organizers viewed Friday's attack as an isolated incident.

"We wish to state that there is no link between what happened in Angola and South Africa's preparations to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup," Mkhondo said. "We also cannot compare organization and security in Angola with South Africa just because the two countries happen to be in the same region in the world."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter expressed his support for African football, and offered FIFA's backing to the Confederation of African Football in a letter on Saturday to its president Issa Hayatou.

Blatter said he looked forward with confidence to FIFA and CAF organizing the World Cup.

Unrest associated with Cabinda, a northern enclave cut off from the rest of Angola by a strip of Congo, has been at low levels. The main separatist group is the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, or FLEC. The Angolan information minister blamed the group for the attack.

Portugal's state-run Lusa news agency said FLEC claimed responsibility in a message on Friday. In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press on Saturday, the civilian arm of the separatist group did not claim responsibility for what it called an "unfortunate incident," but said it was irresponsible of organizers to have ignored warnings from separatists that matches should not be held in Cabinda.

Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor said that soon after their convoy entered Cabinda, "from nowhere gunmen began to open fire on our bus."

He said the gunfire lasted 30 minutes before Angolan soldiers repulsed the assailants.

Togo goalkeeper Kossi Agassa told France-Info radio that a Togo assistant coach and a spokesperson died and that a second goalkeeper was badly wounded. Kodjovi "Dodji" Obilale, the injured goalkeeper who also plays for French club Pontivy, was flown to South Africa where he underwent surgery for injuries to his back, said club president Philippe Le Mestre by telephone from western France.

Richard Friedland, CEO of Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, told reporters that Obilale suffered two gunshot wounds to the lower back and will undergo surgery late Saturday.

"He is fully receptive. He understands where he is," Friedland said.

Ivory Coast general manager Kaba Kone told The Associated Press on Saturday that his team was "shocked and are living through very hard times" but weren't considered pulling out. He said the Ivorian players visited Togo late Friday to express their sympathy.

Kone said CAF and tournament organizers were stepping up security measures to guarantee safety in Cabinda.

"This event can still be a big party," he said.

Associated Press writers Rob Harris in London, Jamey Keaten in Paris, and Ebow Godwin in Togo contributed to this report.