The 'Herald' named the men as Colonel Alphonso Kufa and squadron leader Herbert Vundla. The paper also said that Flight Sergeant Edson Sande, a helicopter gunner, was missing believed captured. DRC rebels claimed they killed 47 Zimbabweans, including the two officers, in the weekend fighting and shot down a MiG aircraft. Harare has not released casualty figures for the battle. It officially acknowledges that 10 soldiers have died since the start of its military intervention on behalf of the Kinshasa government.
Analysts believe the death toll is far higher.
70 percent of Zimbabweans opposed to intervention Reuters has meanwhile reported the main army hospital in Harare has been sealed from the public and there have been no public funerals for war dead. The dispatch cited a recent Gallup poll commissioned by a local rights group which said that 70 percent of Zimbabweans are opposed to the military intervention. Namibia denies rebel claims Namibia has refuted rebel claims that several of its soldiers were killed at Kabalo. A senior defence official also denied allegations by a rebel commander that a white Namibian officer had been captured. Meanwhile, regional security sources told IRIN today that a Russian cargo ship has off loaded Orsa class gunboats at the port of Matadi for allied forces.