The African Cup of Nations will start as planned this weekend in Angola despite gunmen attacking the Togo team bus on Friday, causing the team to consider withdrawing from the 16-nation event.

Soon after the bus carrying Togo crossed the border into Angola, it was fired on by unknown assailants, wounding at least six people, including defender Serge Akakpo and goalkeeper Obilale Kossi.

An official from the local organizing committee immediately brushed off any security concerns in the restive region, saying the tournament was going ahead as scheduled from Sunday, when host Angola will play Mali.

"It's safe," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "Cabinda is completely safe. The national team of Burkina Faso has been there since 2 January."

Cabinda is scheduled to host Togo and other Group B teams Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ivory Coast plus a quarter-final through Jan. 24.

Ivory Coast, which has stars including Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Manchester City's Kolo Toure, arrived in Cabinda early Friday, the official said.

But Togo, due to play its tournament opener against Ghana on Monday, was talking about going home.

"If we can boycott it, let's do it," midfielder Alaixys Romao told French TV channel Infosport. "It's just not on for us to be shot at because of a (soccer) match. All I can think about is stopping this competition and going home."

Friday's attack was a major blow for oil and petroleum-producing Angola, which had hoped to show how stable it had become eight years after the end of a decades-long civil war.

Angola was the first Portuguese-speaking African nation to host the biennial tournament, which began in 1957.

The attack on Togo forced English Premier League clubs to seek security assurances for their players.

Portsmouth, which has four players in Angola, said it was considering withdrawing its players from the three-week continental championship.

"We have asked the (English) Football Association to ask FIFA how safe it is and to guarantee the safety of our players," Portsmouth spokesman Gary Double told The Associated Press. "Our players safety is paramount and if that can't be guaranteed the players should be sent home."

AP Sports Writers Rob Harris in London and Samuel Petrequin in Luanda, Angola contributed to this report.