Angola's UNITA rebels said Wednesday they had killed 23 government soldiers and seized huge quantities of weapons in fresh fighting near the capital of Luanda on Tuesday. 
The group said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters that its forces had stormed government positions south of Luanda, the closest attack to the seaport capital in years. UNITA armed forces chief Gen. Geraldo Abreu signed the statement. 
There was no independent confirmation. On Tuesday, the Luanda government said the rebels had attacked an electricity station near the capital, killing three people and cutting power and water to parts of Luanda. 
It was not clear whether the two incidents were related. 
UNITA said the attacks were part of a new strategy to take the 26-year-old war to Luanda. Much of the war has been fought in the countryside far from the capital. 
"As part of the expansion program of its offensive and defensive military actions, the UNITA Armed Forces have just penetrated into Luanda province," the statement said. 
"The (UNITA) soldiers stormed the government's military deployment of Cabiri, southeast of Funda, which constitutes the defensive line south of Luanda," the statement added. 
It said 23 government soldiers were killed for the loss of two UNITA rebels, and five rebels were wounded while three were missing. Huge quantities of arms were seized, including 21 AK-47 assault rifles and 25 anti-personnel land mines, it said. 
Abreu's statement said Tuesday's attack showed the rebel group, led by longtime guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi, was capable of carrying out military strikes throughout all of the oil-and-diamond rich country's provinces. 
Regional analysts said the attacks close to the capital signified a change in UNITA's war tactics -- shaking up residents in Luanda to cut off government support. 
"Instead of launching a conventional war, UNITA is now operating small commando-style groups. They are starting a war of attrition," Herman Hanekom, a close Angola watcher and analyst at the Pretoria-based Africa Institute, told Reuters. 
"The idea is to bring discomfort to the people of Luanda, and UNITA hopes that in so doing, it will cut off government support and force the government to talks," he added. 
On Tuesday, UNITA said the civil war in the southern African country would go on unless a 1994 peace pact was renegotiated. It assailed what it called violations of the accord, known as the Lusaka Protocol, signed with Angola in the Zambian capital. 
At least 1 million people have been killed in the conflict, Africa's longest-running, and many more have been displaced from their homes or driven across borders into exile. 
Copyright 2001 Reuters . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
