DRC: Italian ambassador killed in armed attack
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View of a village in the North Kivu region of the DRC.
(Illustration) MONUSCO / Abel Kavanagh
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Luca Attanassio, was killed this Monday morning with his bodyguard and a driver from the World Food Program (WFP) during an attack by armed men on a convoy of the UN agency about ten kilometers north of the city of Goma, in the province of North Kivu.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,
Pascal Mulegwa
Italian Ambassador to Kinshasa Luca Attanasio was shot dead on Monday in an armed attack that targeted a World Food Program (WFP) convoy during a visit near Goma, in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo
, learned RFI from the governor of North Kivu.
It is not known where the Italian diplomat was going or how he ended up in a PAM jeep.
Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, governor of North Kivu on the death of the Italian ambassador
Pierre Firtion
The identity of the attackers has not yet been revealed.
According to a source, the attack took place at around 10:15 am, about ten km north of Goma, at a place called “3 antennas”, reports
Pierre Firtion
, journalist for the Africa service of RFI.
This road section between Goma and Virunga Park is known to be a sanctuary for armed groups including the Rwandan FDLR rebels, the Mai-Mai militias and even criminal gangs who live off kidnappings.
The PAM-stamped Jeep the ambassador was in was targeted by a group of assailants.
This group allegedly attempted to remove the 7 passengers from the vehicle.
Alerted, guards from the ICCN, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature who were nearby then intervened but the driver of the vehicle and the ambassador's bodyguard were fatally shot.
Luca Attanasio, he died a few moments later in hospital following serious gunshot wounds in the abdomen, according to the governor of the province of North Kivu.
The Italian ambassador went to Rutshuru on Monday to observe the activities of the world food program.
"
It is with deep sadness that the Foreign Ministry confirms the death, today in Goma, of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luca Attanasio, and of a soldier,
" said de for its part the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For his part, the Italian president denounced "
a cowardly attack
".
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