Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio dies in Congo attack on U.N. convoy

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Luca Attanasio, Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was among several people killed on Monday during an attack on a United Nations convoy there, officials said.

Attanasio was part of a delegation that was traveling from Goma near the DRC's eastern border to a World Food Program site in Rutshuru about 40 miles away when the attack occurred, the United Nations said.

Vittorio Iacovacci, a member of Italy's Carabinieri police force, was also killed in the attack -- along with a member of the World Food Program.

The United Nations said several militias are known to frequent the area, but no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

"[We] will work with national authorities to determine the details behind the attack, which occurred on a road that had previously been cleared for travel without security escorts," the World Food Program said in a statement.

Attanasio, 43, had been Italy's ambassador to the DRC since 2019 and led Rome's mission in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa since 2017.

The DRC has the world's second-largest number of displaced people (5.2 million) and is home to about 527,000 refugees from other countries.