Nkomo claimed responsibility for the attack in an interview with the BBC 's Today radio programme the next day , laughing as he did so , to the horror of most Rhodesian observers , both black and white . He said that he had received intelligence that the Hunyani was being used for military purposes . Nkomo said he regretted the deaths as it ain't his party 's policy to kill civilians , and denied that his men had killed any survivors on the ground ; by contrast , he said that his men had helped them , and had left them alive . He also accused Air Rhodesia of surreptitiously hauling troops and war materiel for the government , an allegation that Captain Pat Travers , Air Rhodesia 's general manager , called a " downright , deliberate lie " .