Italy wants "clear and exhaustive" answers over slain Ambassador

ROME, Italy

Italy has asked the United Nations to start an investigation into the attack in which the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and his body guard were killed earlier this week.

"We have formally asked the UN and the WFP [World Food Programme] to open an investigation that clarifies what happened, the reasons behind the security provisions used and who was responsible for these decisions," Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio (pictured) told parliament on Wednesday.

Ambassador Luca Attanasio, Carabinieri policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, and a Congolese driver, Mustapha Milambo, were killed in an attack on a WFP convoy in the eastern part of the DR Congo on Monday.

"We have also explained that we expect clear and exhaustive answers as quickly as possible," Di Maio said. He added that a team of the Carabinieri's special operations group was already in the DR Congo to gather evidence for an investigation by Rome prosecutors on the case.

Di Maio said that other investigative teams would also follow.

The DR Congo government has blamed Rwandan rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) for the attack. It said Attanasio and Iacovacci were killed by rebels, ruling out the hypothesis that the friendly fire of Congolese security forces may have caused the deaths.

"We owe them the truth ahead of anything else," Di Maio said.

"But the best way to honor the memory of Ambassador Luca Attanasio and Carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci is to continue to strengthen our political attention for the African continent, something Luca strongly believed in with passion and dedication,” he added.

Attanasio had devoted most of his diplomatic career and his personal efforts to Africa, participating in the activities organized by the Mama Sofia NGO founded by his wife Zakia in Kinshasa.

The bodies of Attanasio, 43, and Iacovacci, a-30-year-old officer who was part of the ambassador's security team, arrived in Italy late on Tuesday. Autopsies will be performed on Wednesday.

Di Maio called the two men "heroes" and said they will have a state funeral in Rome on Thursday.