GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio was in a World Food Programme convoy with six other people when they were ambushed on February 22, 2021.<br /><br />According to France 24, which cites the office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, six assailants, armed with five AK-47s and a machete, forced the convoy to stop by firing warning shots.<br /><br />The assailants forced those in the vehicles to get out and shot dead one of the drivers, identified by the WFP as Moustapha Milambo, to ensure the rest complied.<br /><br />The assailants then forced the others — four WFP workers, the ambassador, and his bodyguard, Italian carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci — to follow them into the bush.<br /><br />At this point a DRC army unit and park rangers responded and a gun battle ensued.<br /><br />Italian prosecutor Alberto Pioletti told CNN Ambassador Attanasio and his bodyguard Iacovacci were hit by two bullets each.<br /><br />Pioletti said the two died in a gunbattle, and were not killed execution-style, as had previously been reported.
