4:21pm UK, Sunday January 10, 2010

Mark Langford, Sky News Online

Togo’s footballers are to quit the African Cup of Nations tournament on the orders of their government after being targeted in a deadly gun ambush.

Togo’s footballers were set to play Ghana on Monday

Togo has accused host nation Angola of failing to protect the players following the attack on their bus that left three dead.

The players had earlier said they wanted to stay and compete in honour of their assistant coach, a team spokesman and the Angolan bus driver, who were all killed.

But Manchester City player and Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor said: “We are children of the Togo and we will abide by the decision of our government.

“We had a meeting between players and we told ourselves we were football players and decided to do something nice for our country by playing to pay tribute to those who died.

“Unfortunately, the head of state and the country’s authorities have made a different decision, so we will pack and go home.”

Forward Thomas Dossevi backed the move.

“We fully understand our government’s decision to leave because they didn’t receive enough guarantees for our security,” he said.

“We as players, we wanted to stay to honour the memory of our dead people, but both positions are understandable.”

Togo’s Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo said the country’s presidential plane was in Angola to take the team back to the capital, Lome.

He said it would take some time to get them back as they had to accommodate the wounded.

The ambush injured eight people including the team’s reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, who is in a stable condition in a South African hospital after surgery.

It has been blamed on militants fighting for the independence of Cabinda.

Angola has spent $1bn (£620m) building stadia, roads and hotels for the competition.