PORTUGAL: BOMB BLAST IN OFFICES OF THE POPULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE LIBERATION OF ANGOLA (MPLA) CAUSES SEVERE DAMAGE BUT NO CASUALTIES.

Record ID: 230567

  • Title: PORTUGAL: BOMB BLAST IN OFFICES OF THE POPULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE LIBERATION OF ANGOLA (MPLA) CAUSES SEVERE DAMAGE BUT NO CASUALTIES.
  • Date: 21st July 1976
  • Summary: 1. MV Policeman taking notes on bomb explosion PAN TO GV Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) offices 0.10 2. MV Shattered windows PAN TO Police on guard at entrance 0.18 3. MV Broken shutters, PAN TO GV MPLA offices 0.26 4. MV PAN Bomb-damaged car 0.34 5. MV Police on guard at MPLA offices PAN TO Debris in roadway 92 shots 0.48 6. GV Building ZOOM INTO CU Shattered windows 0.53 7. MV PAN MPLA slogan on wall 0.58 8. MV Wrecked car 1.02 9. MV PULL BACK TO GV Wrecked MPLA offices 1.09 According to the Portuguese Foreign Ministry and the MPLA, the two sides have also discussed the possible return to Angola of some former portuguese settlers. Discussions also reviewed relations between the two countries and the possibility of normalising relations. Angola virtually severed relations with Portugal last May when it ordered the Portuguese diplomatic mission to leave Luanda. The previous month (April) the MPLA closed down its Lisbon offices because of what it regarded as hostile activities against Angola in Portugal. Initials CL/1940 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th August 1976 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LISBON, PORTUGAL
  • Country: Portugal
  • Reuters ID: LVA9MG1WK2LD4FME9ZS14LALXVW9
  • Story Text: A powerful bomb blast ripped through the Lisbon offices of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) on Tuesday night (20 July), causing serious damage but no casualties. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.

    SYNOPSIS: Police investigations into the explosion continued on Wednesday (21 July). The three storey building in the city centre has been closed since April when relations between Portugal and its former colony of Angola soured. An MPLA delegation was in Lisbon earlier this week for informal talks with Portuguese officials aimed at improving relations.

    Although no one has admitted responsibility for the blast, the police say they are making inquiries among the displaced settlers from Angola now in Lisbon. The government says 650,000 settlers have returned to Portugal since independence was granted. Most of them are form Angola and are destitute, adding to the swollen ranks of the unemployed in Portugal.

    The Soviet backed MPLA earlier this year defeated two rival liberation movements in the Angolan civil war. it then established the Popular Republic of Angola in the former Portuguese territory. This week's MPLA delegation to Lisbon was reported to have discussed the repatriation of Angolans in Portugal.
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