The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been killed in an attack. An armed attack on a UN convoy in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday local Time resulted in the death of Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio, a staff member of the World Food Program and a staff member of the Italian Embassy, the UN World Food Program and several media outlets said on Monday (Feb. 22). One staff member of the Italian Embassy was killed.
Many of the other passengers accompanying them were injured, and the injured were taken to a nearby United Nations hospital, the report said.
In a statement, the WFP said the convoy departed from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in eastern DRC, and visited a school feeding program managed by the WFP about 40 miles north of Goma.
The World Food Program is working with national authorities in the DRC to determine the details of how the attack occurred,” the statement said. The attack took place on a stretch of road that had previously been declared passable and did not require a security escort.”
The Italian Foreign Ministry told the media that the embassy staff member killed in the attack was an Italian Carabinieri police officer. AFP quoted sources as saying the third person killed was the convoy driver.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell briefed EU foreign ministers on the incident at a meeting in Brussels on Monday and offered condolences to Italy and the United Nations.
The news is very worrying and we are following the situation in Congo closely with the EU delegation, said Nabila Massrali, EU spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy. Massrali did not provide details of the dead and wounded.
The BBC quoted officials from nearby Virunga National Park as saying the attack was believed to be an attempted kidnapping.
Locals told the Associated Press that the area where the attack took place is known as the “three antennas” and that two Britons were kidnapped by unidentified militants in the same area in 2018.
The attack took place at around 10 a.m. local time. There are many armed groups active in eastern DRC, all vying for control of the mineral-rich land. But no armed group has claimed responsibility.
Last year, more than 2,000 civilians were killed in violence by armed groups in eastern DRC, and the attacks left millions homeless in what the United Nations has called one of the worst humanitarian crises.
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