In a "communiqué of war", signed by the Chief Operational Officer of FLEC-FAC (Front for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Cabindan Armed Forces), Futi Bonifácio Edinho, the independence supporters speak of "intense fighting" between the FAC and the Angolan army in the Massabi region.
In the attack on the FAA unit, "which was preparing to surprise" a position of the FAC, which occurred in the village of Chissanga, the Cabindan forces lost two fighters and eight soldiers were killed, and three others were wounded.
The Ministry of Defence has not confirmed the information.
The FAC also reportedly recovered automatic weapons, rocket launchers and various ammunition.
The separatist movement, which calls for the independence of Cabinda, a province in northern Angola separated geographically from the country, accuses the President, João Lourenço, of being "responsible for the instability that reigns in the enclave, as well as the dangerous worsening of the situation that will deteriorate in the coming days".
The FLEC-FAC says it has wanted for several years a "peace dialogue, honest and sincere", which the government rejects.
On 15 July, the Minister of State and Head of the Security House of the President of the Republic of Angola, Pedro Sebastião, denied the existence of situations of instability in the territory, saying that Cabinda is experiencing an "effective peace", despite "groups that may take some action".
"From time to time, very rarely, here and there groups can appear that can do one or another action, not an organized action as such, the guerrilla has the particularity that as soon as it is stopped as it can create a moment of instability," said the minister at the time.
Cabinda province, where most of the country's oil reserves are concentrated, is not contiguous with the rest of the territory and for many years local leaders have been defending independence, claiming an autonomous colonial history of Luanda.
FLEC, through its 'armed arm', the FAC, is fighting for independence in that province, claiming that the enclave was a Portuguese protectorate, as established in the Treaty of Simulambuco, signed in 1885, and not an integral part of Angolan territory.
Cabinda is bounded to the north by the Republic of Congo, to the east and south by the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
