Blinken Offers Condolences To Italian Counterpart Over Death Of Envoy To DRC - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2021) US Secretary of Defense Antony Blinken in a phone conversation with his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio expressed condolences for the death of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an attack on a UN Convoy, Department of State spokesperson Ned price said in a statement.

Earlier on Monday, unidentified combatants attacked a World food Program (WFP) convoy traveling in the DRC's North Kivu province to visit a feeding program in a school in the town of Rutshuru. Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio, an employee at the Italian Embassy and a WFP driver were killed in the incident.

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio today to express his deepest condolences for the tragic death of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two others in an attack on a World Food Program convoy," Price said on Monday.

Price also said Blinken and Maio also discussed the two countries' shared support for the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia] and for the new unified interim authority in Libya.