The bodies of the two Italian men arrived at Rome’s Ciampino airport from Tuesday to Wednesday and were met by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Wednesday the country had sent a team to the eastern DRC to investigate the incident.
“At the moment, all the facts are not clear,” Pioletti said. “We are still investigating, we are dealing with an area where there are different armed groups, different ethnic groups, so we can not attribute this attack to any of these groups, it is still too early.
“What we do know for sure is that it was not an execution, it was a shootout, and that the ambassador and the Caribbean were each hit by two bullets,” Pioletti added after the autopsy of the two men who completed Wednesday. is.
An armed group stopped the convoy and forced the passengers to get out in front of a gun, the WFP said.
Iacovacci died after a bullet hit him near his heart while Attanasio was shot twice in the abdomen, Pioletti said. Attanasio died on the way to the hospital, which was 50 minutes away.
It is not yet clear whether the bullets that killed the Italians were fired by the attackers or that the government army defended them, Pioletti added.
According to the WFP, the route was on a road previously designated as safe to travel without a security team.
Rutshuru is just over two hours drive from Goma. The road to the regional capital has been unsafe for years with a variety of armed groups operating in the area.
There is heavy UN peacekeeping in the region, and UN convoys need security clearance to travel outside Goma.
With the identity of the attackers still unknown, the motive for the attack is uncertain. A political motive has not yet been completely ruled out, Pioletti said, but he added that a kidnapping is more likely.
CNN’s David McKenzie, Nicola Ruotolo and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report.