Luanda, Angola - The death toll in the ambush of a refugee train by Angolan rebels rose on Wednesday to 252 after rescue workers identified another 100 bodies in the smoldering wreck, the government said.
The train carrying more than 500 people fleeing the fighting between the government and Unita rebels , derailed and burst into flames when it hit two landmines on Friday. Unita guerrillas then sprayed the survivors with gunfire.
The Angolan government said in a report to the United Nations that another 100 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage or identified since Monday, when the death toll was put at 152. The search for bodies continues.
The dead were being buried in a mass grave near the ambush site, the radio station Ecclesia reported.
Unita claimed in a statement that the train was carrying troops and munitions as it headed from the capital, Luanda, to the southern city of Dondo.
Although the army has denied troops were on the train, a survivor told the Angolan state television station TPA that at least 50 soldiers were on board.
TPA showed pictures of people with severe burns being taken to hospitals in Luanda, 130km away. Official figures said 165 people were injured.
Meanwhile, Roman Catholic bishops in eight African countries appealed to both sides to stop the war.
"In the name of Christ and the suffering Angolan people we ask Angola's president and Unita's leader to meet in a neutral place for talks to end the war," they said in a joint statement quoted by Portugal's government-run agency, Lusa.
Angolan bishops meeting in Luanda also issued a statement calling for a ceasefire.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also condemned the attack and blamed Unita "for this indefensible loss of life."
"This incident underlines the urgent need for a political settlement of the conflict, to achieve durable peace and stability in Angola," Annan said on Tuesday.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said the attack cast further doubt on Unita chief Jonas Savimbi's claims that he is ready to negotiate an end to the civil war.
More than three million people - about a quarter of Angola's population - have been driven from their homes by fighting that has raged since Angola's 1975 independence from Portugal.
The rebels are increasingly attacking military and civilian targets in rural areas, claiming they are responding to an army offensive. Human rights groups accuse both sides of routinely committing atrocities. - Sapa-AP