Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and two other people have been killed in an attack on a UN convoy in eastern Congo.
The convoy was attacked at around 10.15am (8.15am Irish time) during an attempted kidnap by assailants near the town of Kanyamahoro, a few kilometres north of the regional capital Goma, said the Virunga National Park.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio and a military policeman travelling with him were killed, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The park had said earlier that two people in the convoy had been killed and the ambassador wounded.
The third person killed was a driver, diplomatic sources said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
"It is with deep sorrow that the Foreign Ministry confirms the death today in Goma of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and of a policeman from the Carabinieri," the foreign ministry statement said.
"The ambassador and the soldier were travelling in a car in a convoy of MONUSCO, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo," it said.
According to the ministry website, Mr Attanasio had been Italy's head of mission in Kinshasa since 2017 and was made ambassador in 2019.
Dozens of armed groups operate in and around Virunga, which lies along Congo's borders with Rwanda and Uganda.
Park rangers have been repeatedly attacked, including six who were killed in an ambush last month.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney expressed sympathy to Italy on the ambassador's death.
Our sincere sympathy to Italian friends after violence in Northeast #DRC has claimed three more lives, including that of Italian Ambassador Attanasio. RIP. @ItalyMFA https://t.co/gO79YGbxa3
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) February 22, 2021
