Television footage of Jonas Savimbi's body

Angolan television has shown the body of slain rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.

Videotape broadcast Saturday showed his body in fatigues and shoeless lying on a table under a tree with an apparent bullet wound to his neck. A spokesman for the rebel UNITA group is quoted as confirming the death of Mr. Savimbi.

State radio said the 67-year-old veteran fighter was then buried in the eastern town of Lucusse, in the area where he reported killed by government troops on Friday.

Exact circumstances or timing of the death remain unclear, but it comes amid government advances against the rebels. More than 20 other UNITA officials, including two commanders, were also reported killed in the fighting near the Zambian border.

The prime minister of the former colonial power Portugal, Antonio Guterres, says peace for Angola's people is now the major issue. Civil strife since Angola's independence in 1975 has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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