A UNITA spokesman claimed that UNITA guerrillas had killed over 550 government troops and shot down two airplanes in fighting between September 15 and 29. The spokesman said that on September 10 the Angolan government (MPLA) began a "vast encirclement operation" intended to capture UNITA bases in the central Bie province, in Malanje (north) and and Moxico and Kwando-Kubango (east). All of these claims were unconfirmed.