Ambassador Luca Attanasio “died immediately of his injuries,” a senior diplomatic source in Kinshasa told AFP.
LItalian ambassador in Kinshasa was shot dead on Monday in an armed attack targeting a World Food Program (WFP) convoy during a visit near Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , we learned from a diplomatic source.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio “died immediately of his injuries,” a senior diplomatic source in Kinshasa told AFP. Two other people were also killed during the attack, for his part told AFP Major Guillaume Djike, spokesman for the army in the North Kivu region, without specifying the identity of the victims.
The two other victims would be the driver and the bodyguard of the ambassador, according to several sources. Luca Attanasio had been in office since early 2018.
Seriously “shot in the abdomen”, the ambassador was evacuated to a hospital in Goma “in critical condition”, the diplomatic source told AFP. “The Congolese Armed Forces are combing to find out who the attackers are,” the Congolese army said.
Violent conflicts between armed groups
The attack on this WFP convoy took place in the north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which has been plagued by violence from armed groups for more than 25 years. This region is home to the Virunga National Park, a natural, touristic and threatened gem, which is also the theater of conflicts in this region of North Kivu, where dozens of armed groups compete for control of the wealth of the soil and the subsoil. .
Created in 1925, Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This reserve extends over 7,769 km2, from Goma to the territory of Béni, between mountains and forests. The park is guarded by 689 armed rangers, at least 200 of whom have been killed in the line of duty, according to its officials.
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