THE Togo squad flew home last night although their African Nations Cup future remains shrouded in uncertainty after it emerged they have asked to return to Angola at a later date.

The players were ordered back to Togo against their wishes by the country’s leading governmental figures earlier yesterday following Friday’s terrorist attack on the team bus which left three people dead.

The decision – made by Togolese prime minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo and president Faure Gnassingbe – came after the players had performed a U-turn and decided to play as a mark of respect to the dead.

And they may still get their wish after it emerged sports minister Christophe Tchao had asked for their place in the tournament remain open.

He told reporters before the squad left Cabinda: ‘‘We have ordered a three-day mourning.

‘‘The players are leaving with the bodies of their fallen brothers and we have asked the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to find an arrangement so we can catch up with the competition later.’’ Earlier, Houngbo and Gnassingbe ruled the squad should head home even though they wanted to stay.

Houngbo told L’Equipe: ‘‘We understand the approach of the players who wanted to express a way to avenge their fallen comrades, but it would be irresponsible on the part of the authorities to let them continue.

‘‘The team must return today. The government’s decision is unchanged.

‘‘It is a conscious decision since Friday. If a team or a person present themselves under the banner of Togo, it would be a false representation.’’ Captain Emmanuel Adebayor reluctantly accepted the decision after speaking with Gnassingbe, stating to French radio station RMC: ‘‘The head of state has decided we will return.

‘‘There was a meeting between players yesterday and we said we were still footballers.

‘‘We all decided to do something good for the country and play to honour those who died.

‘‘Unfortunately, the head of state and the country’s authorities have decided otherwise.

We will pack up and go home.

‘‘Is there going to be another attack? Nobody knows. If they asked us back (home), maybe they received a call saying that the threat was not passed.

‘‘We are obliged to respect that. The head of state knows what is good for our careers and our lives.’’ Adebayor revealed he had spoken to members of the Ivory Coast and Ghana camps – two of Togo’s Group B opponents – who appeared to back a boycott but now seem set to continue.

‘‘As captain and spokesman of Togo, I spoke with all authorities.

I told them to take the measures necessary for our security,’’ he added.

‘‘I spoke with the captain and the Ivory Coast delegation and with the Ghanaians.

‘‘They expressed their support by saying they were ready to leave the competition if we did.

‘‘(But), we realised that they were ready to continue.

It is still a continent where a World Cup will take place in South Africa.

‘‘If we speak of the dead, the competition should have been cancelled. But CAF have decided otherwise.

‘‘We’re going back and we wish good luck to those who will remain, especially to Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

‘‘What I have told their leaders is that they may be attacked at any time in Cabinda.

I hope they will be cautious.’’ Bayer Leverkusen’s Assimiou Toure revealed more harrowing details of the ambush.

He told Germany’s Bild newspaper: ‘‘It was horrible.

I was scared to death.

‘‘The driver and two others on the bus were hit in their lower body and others got bullets in their calf.

‘‘They have undergone surgery and are in intensive care. Nothing happened to me. Thank God I was sat in the penultimate row at the back. They shot at the front of the bus.’’ The Togo team had ignored warnings to arrive in Angola by plane and instead travelled by coach with an army escort.

The escort, according to Toure, prevented a massacre.

‘‘We were coming from the Congo and were only about 10 minutes away from the Angolan border with our two buses,’’ he explained.

‘‘In the middle of the forest, we were suddenly ambushed and shot at.

‘‘We were fortunate – they absolutely peppered the first bus with bullets, probably thinking that we were all sitting in there, but that was only our luggage.

‘‘The whole thing lasted about half an hour. We had an escort and they shot back and kept the attackers in check and called for assistance.

‘‘If the army had not been there, then none of us would be alive now. All I could do was jump under my seat and pray.’’ In last night’s opening game, Mali came back from 4- 0 down with 11 minutes to go to draw 4-4 with Angola, thanks to two injury-time efforts.

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