Machine gun ambush on football stars

PREMIERSHIP football star Emman­uel Adebayor was forced to dive for cover after gunman fired at a bus ­carrying Togo’s national team ­yesterday.

Adebayor was shaken but unhurt after the attack which left one dead and others hurt Adebayor was 'shaken' but unhurt after the attack which left one dead and others hurt

The bus driver was killed and two players and two team doctors suffered gunshot wounds during the attack in Angola.

Adebayor, a £25million player for Manchester City, was left unhurt.

The team was passing through border controls between the oil-rich Angolan enclave of Cabinda and the Congo when the attackers opened fire on their bus with machine guns.

Last night Manchester City said Adebayor, 25, had been “shaken” by the attack but unhurt.

But teammate Thomas Dossevi, who plays for French side Nantes, said many had been left hurt by the attack by separatist rebels.

He said: “I’m OK but several players are in a bad state. We are still at hospital.

“We were machine-gunned like dogs and had to remain hidden under our seats for around 20 minutes to avoid the bullets.”

The attack comes just two days before the start of the 2010 African Nations Cup, a pan-continental tournament which will have much of Africa glued to television and radio sets for the next three weeks.

Togo are scheduled to begin their cup campaign against Ghana on Monday. But last night the Togolese players were urging team bosses to pull out of the tournament.

Alaixys Romao, who plays for French side Grenoble, said the players feared the worst when they heard gunshots. He added: “We’re not thinking yet of what could happen. But it’s true that no one wants to play. We’re not capable of it.

“We’re thinking first of all about the health of our injured because there was a lot of blood on the ground.”

Last night the Angolan government branded the gunmen terrorists.

Minister Antonio Bento Bembe said: “This was an act of terrorism that is being dealt with as we speak. I can confirm there are injuries but I still don’t have all the information.”

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