Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio killed in DR Congo during kidnapping attempt: Senior diplomat

The Foreign Ministry in a statement revealed that the Italian ambassador to Congo and an Italian Carabinieri police officer were killed during a visit near Goma in the eastern Republic of Congo. They were travelling in a convoy of the UN stabilization mission in Congo.

Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio. (Credit: AFP Photo)

Rome: The Italian ambassador to Congo was shot dead on Monday (February 22) in an attack which targeted the convoy of the World Food Program (WFP). 

The Foreign Ministry in a statement revealed that the Italian ambassador to Congo and an Italian Carabinieri police officer were killed during a visit near Goma in the eastern Republic of Congo. 

In a brief statement, the ministry said Luca Attanasio and the officer were killed in Goma. They were travelling in a convoy of the UN stabilization mission in Congo.

The convoy of the officials was attacked near the town of Kanyamahoro at around 10:15 am (0815 GMT) and was allegedly a part of a kidnap attempt, the Virunga National Park stated.

The envoy, Luca Attanasio, "died of his wounds" after a convoy of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) came under fire near Goma, the source told AFP in Kinshasa.

Two other people also died in the attack revealed Major Guillaume Djike, the army's spokesman in North Kivu province said, without identifying one of the casualties.