Heavy fighting has broken out between government and rebel UNITA troops in Angola.

The fighting is centered around the strategic town on Cuito. UNITA forces led by Jonas Savimbi are claiming to have captured large areas of countryside, despite bombing raids by government planes.

The government has had to pull some of its forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Angolan troops have formed the backbone of the southern African alliance supporting President Laurent Kabila.

The forces returning to Angola include an armoured brigade, fighter jets, and helicopter gunships.

Civil war raged in the African country from 1975, when Angola gained independence, to 1994, when a UN-brokered peace deal was signed. However, the deal was never fully implemented.

Last week the UN Security Council voted to keep about 1,000 peacekeepers in the country for another three months in hopes of preventing the resumption of full-scale fighting.