Attack in the Congo. A real terrorist attack hit the Italian ambassador Luke Attanasio who was killed together with the carabiniere Victor Iacovacci who was with him in the convoy.
According to the first reconstructions, reported by Ansa, the attack took place on the route between Goma and Bukavu by a terrorist commando used light weapons, in an area where several gangs operate. Investigations are still ongoing on the dynamics and motive.
Ambassador Attanasio and the carabiniere Iacovacci were traveling in a car a MONUSCO convoy, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Un driver is the third victim of the attack in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, reveals a diplomatic source in Kinshasa. The attack was allegedly intended to kidnap the diplomat. And apparently the ambassador was actually taken away but then tracked down and transported to the hospital where he arrived in critical condition: he had been shot in the abdomen and died there.
"The armed forces of the Congo are doing everything possible to find out who the perpetrators of the attack are", which took place north of Goma. The North-Kivu region is the scene of the action of dozens of armed groups competing for natural resources and is home to the Virunga Park, famous for its mountain gorillas and guarded by 628 armed rangers.
The attack was an 'attempted kidnapping', reveal the rangers of the Virunga National Park, cited by various media including the Jerusalem Post. The attack took place around 10 am (9 am Italian time).
The Congolese website also dealt with the attack Actualite.cd, according to which "the perpetrators of the attack would have had the Italian diplomat as their main objective". The ambush took place "near Goma (North-Kivu) in the territory of Nyiragongo", specifies the site, reporting that "the Fardc", i.e. the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, "and the guards of the National Park intervened of the Virungas".
Deep regret for the death of the ambassador and the carabiniere were expressed by the Farnesina and by all the main political forces. Luca Attanasio was young, born in 1977, married and with three children. He had graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi and had embarked on a diplomatic career: his first diplomatic missions as consul in Bern and Casablanca. Then he had gone to Nigeria and since 2017 he had been appointed as ambassador in Kinshasa.
