Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed during an attempted kidnap on a United Nations convoy in the restive east of the vast central African country.
A
spokesperson for Virunga national park said the convoy from the World Food
Programme was attacked at about 10.15am local time (0815 GMT) during an
attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 10 miles north of the
regional capital, Goma.
The
carabinieri police officer who was providing security for the ambassador and a
third person were killed in the incident.
It was not
immediately clear who was behind the attack, but the road on which the convoy
was travelling is a frequent site of attacks by bandits and armed militia.
The Italian
foreign ministry said in a statement;
“It is with
deep sorrow that the foreign ministry confirms the death today in Goma of the
Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and of
a policemen from the carabinieri.
“The ambassador and the soldier were
travelling in a car in a convoy of Monusco, the United Nations Organisation
stabilisation mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
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