Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio killed in terror attack on UN convoy in Congo

New Delhi: Luca Attanasio, Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was killed in a terrorist attack on a United Nations convoy, the Italian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The attack took place in the eastern DRC city of Goma in the North Kivu Province, located next to the border with Rwanda and Uganda, Sputnik reported.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms with great sorrow the death of Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Luca Attanasio and a carabineer in Goma today. The ambassador and the carabineer were moving in a vehicle of a convoy of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the Ministry said in a communique.

North Kivu is a home province of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group that brings together Islamists and forces opposed to longtime Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

The ADF has operated in the province since the late 1990s. In 2017, the group swore allegiance to the Islamic States. The United Nations holds the group responsible for killing hundreds of civilians.