Italian envoy and two others killed in attack on UN convoy in Congo
Congo, 22/2: Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and his bodyguard and driver were killed on Monday in an attack on a United Nations convoy in the east of the country, Italy’s foreign ministry and local authorities said.
The convoy was attacked around 10:15 a.m. (0815 GMT) in an attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 25 km (15 miles) north of the regional capital Goma, a spokesman for the Virunga National Park told Reuters.
The deaths of the ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and their Congolese driver, whose name has not been released, were confirmed by the Italian government in a statement.
“It was with great shock and immense sorrow that I learned of the death today of our Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and of a Carabinieri policeman,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in a statement.
“The circumstances of this brutal attack are still unclear and no effort will be spared to shed light on what happened.” Di Maio was in Brussels for a European Union meeting when he heard the news and cut short his visit to head back to Italy.
