Emmanuel Adebayor Manchester City striker retires from international football

**ben** · 13th April 2010

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has announced his retirement from international football.

Stepping down: Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo captain, will no longer play for his country

Adebayor has made the decision following the attack on the Togo team bus during this year's African Cup of Nations, when three people were killed.

A statement from the 26 year-old said : "Following the tragic events during January's African Cup of Nations, in which two of my fellow countrymen were killed by terrorists in Angola, I have made the very difficult decision to retire from international football.

"I have weighed up my feelings in the weeks and months since the attack and I am still haunted by the events which I witnessed on that horrible afternoon on the Togo team bus.

"We were just footballers going to play a football match and represent our country, yet we were attacked by people who wanted to kill us all.

"It is a moment I will never forget and one I never want to experience again."

The attack, which happened as the team travelled by bus to Angola for the start of the continental showpiece, saw terrorists open fire on the coach in the Cabinda region.

An assistant coach and the team's press officer - plus the coach's Angolan driver - were killed and defender Serge Akakpo and goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale were among a number of passengers injured.

Obilale was initially reported to have been killed but was flown to a South African hospital for life-saving surgery and remained there for two months, with Adebayor paying for the GSI Pontivy player's partner and sister to travel to South Africa and accompany him during his recovery.

The separatist group The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), who were at first reported to have claimed responsibility for the attack, later denied they carried it out.

Adebayor said at the time: "We saw military people dressed like they were going to war and it was a little bit of a shock at the beginning, but I thought 'okay, it's for security which is normal, because we are players here for a big tournament and we are like ambassadors for Africans so it's normal that security is big'.

"We went through the border and got into Angola and, I don't know, 5km away from the border we started hearing shooting on the bus, for no reason. At the end of the day we got a lot of [people] injured."

Togo pulled out of the tournament and were subsequently banned by the Confederation of African Football for the next two editions, a sanction over which they are currently embroiled in an appeal process.