UNITA has released a statement that its forces killed 454 Angolan government troops in combat during the last week of April. The statement claimed UNITA guerrillas also knocked out eight tanks and downed one Angolan government (MPLA) helicopter. It also accused the Angolan government of attacking villages in Bie province (central Angola) with phosphorous and napalm bombs. UNITA provided no confirmation of the claims. However, some regional analysts have been expecting UNITA to launch at least a series of minor attacks to show the government that its offensive (which ran from September 1999 to March 2000) failed to totally destroy UNITA.