Cuban, Soviet Ships Hit in Angola Port
The official news agency Tass said Friday that Soviet and Cuban cargo ships were hit in the Angolan port of Namibe at the time of a reported South African raid there Thursday.
Tass said that two Soviet ships, the Kapitan Vislobokov and the Kapitan Chirkov, were seriously damaged as they unloaded in the southern Angolan port. No one was injured, it said.
In Havana, the official daily newspaper Granma reported that the 6,000-ton Cuban cargo ship Habana was sunk. It said the Habana, on contract to the Angolan government for coastal trade, was unloading food. No casualties on the ship were reported.
The official Angolan news agency ANGOP said that in the Thursday morning raid on Namibe, a South African warship armed with Scorpion missiles destroyed two fuel tanks while frogmen planted mines on three ships in the harbor, sinking one of them.
South Africa refused to comment on the raid report.
Helped by Cuban Troops
Cuba has an estimated 30,000 troops in Angola in support of its Marxist government. The Soviet Union has supplied Angola with military hardware.
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