A bus carrying the Togo national football team from a training camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to a base in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda was attacked by heavily armed gunmen on Friday night (08 January 2010). Initial reports from Cabinda indicate that the attack took place shortly after the bus entered Cabinda from the DRC. The team is scheduled to play in the African Cup of Nations tournament which kicks off in Angola this weekend.

Details are still sketchy but reports indicate that the Angolan driver of the bus was killed and at least nine persons involved in the team injured, including two players and the team's media officer.

Separarist movement FLEC, which has been waging a low-intensity campaign for the independence of the oil-rich region from Angola, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Initial comments from the Togo camp suggest that the team will withdraw from the tournament.

The attack is likely to raise concerns about the security of players, officials and spectators ahead of the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which kicks off on 11 June. It also raises serious questions about the security arrangements put in place for the Africa Cup of Nations. Although Angola itself is rated relatively low in terms of terrorist threats, the Cabinda enclave has experienced periodic clashes between FLEC separatists and Angolan forces, and attacks against government and civilian targets are not uncommon in the region. Undoubtedly, the wisdom of hosting matches in the enclave will now be questioned.

Angolan officials have however suggested that the Togo team did not inform organisers that they intended to travel by road from the DRC to Cabinda, and that adequate security was therefore not in place. Reports from Cabinda contradict these statements, however, as claims have been made that the party was being escourted by armed Angolan security officials when the attack took place. Speculation exists that the a decision was taken to drive to Cabinda rather than take a flight from Congo-Brazzaville to Luanda and then from Luanda to Cabinda.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Portuguese: Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda, FLEC) is a separatist guerrilla and political movement in Cabinda, Angola. Formerly under Portuguese administration, with the independence of Angola from Portugal in 1975, the territory became a province of the newly-independent Angola. The FLEC acts in the region occupied by the former kingdoms of Kakongo, Loango and N'Goyo and has called for independence of the Cabinda exclave from Angola.