Attanasio: the video of the attack in the Congo. The Shootout with the Rangers – Alien

Rome, February 23, 2021 – A video exhibition some moments of the attack versus Luca attanasio. In the video, the screams and shots of the soldiers trying to repel the rebels, who had already taken hostage. Monusco convoy, the mission of the United Nations. The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 44 ​​years old, the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci were captured and then killed in the forest, while the driver Mustapha milambo he was killed immediately.

In the video posted on Twitter by Amakanji Thomas, you can see the reaction of the park rangers who arrived immediately after the attack, which took place near the town of Kanyamahoro at around 10.15 a.m., in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. . From the information received, the six attackers, with light weapons, intercepted the convoy, forcing it to stop by firing into the air. The driver was immediately shot, and the other passengers were taken into the forest.

Soldiers trying to corner the rebels in Kibumba pic.twitter.com/KqjswkPkGl

– Amakanji Thomas (@AmakanjiThomas)
February 23, 2021

The situation has gotten worse when a patrol of rangers from the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation arrived at the scene along with some army soldiers. The terrorists were frightened and fired at Iacovacci, also fatally wounding Attanasio.

But who are the attackers? One of the survivors, questioned by local police, claims that the attackers were talking to each other in kinyarwanda and who addressed the hostages in Swahili. The terrorists encountered no resistance during the attack because there was no UN peacekeeping escort on that road, considered “safe.”

The Rome Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident and carabinieri del Ros I’m going from Italy to Kinshasa. Meanwhile, the Congolese army patrols the area in search of the perpetrators of the attack.

The World Food Program convoy, consisting of two vehicles, had left Goma for Kiwanja municipality shortly before 9:30 am and was attacked near Kibumba in North Kivu province. In addition to Luca Attanasio, the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and the driver of the Pam Mustapha Milambo, there was also the deputy chief of the Pam in the country, Rocco leone, 56 years old, sole survivor. His wife reported that Leone is hospitalized in an African hospital due to shock, but he is fine.

Attanasio, a former ambassador to other countries, was in Kinshasa since 2017, Iacovacci and the driver were allegedly killed during a robbery, or a kidnapping that ended badly. And the target would not have been the head of the Italian diplomatic office, but the UN staff with whom he was traveling.

The gang would be part of one of those dozens of paramilitary formations that compete for natural resources in North Kivu of the Congo. The region is home to the Virunga Park, made famous by mountain gorillas and guarded by more than 600 armed rangers. The attackers could be Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who oppose the Tutsis for dominance in the area. The commander-in-chief is Paul Rwarakabije.

Among the hypotheses also the pro-Isis militias, present in force in the east of the country. This would reinforce the hypothesis of a kidnapping that ended in tragedy: the target was the head of the EU delegation in Kinshasa, who was injured in the attack. Nor should an assault by local armed militiamen be excluded.

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