Rwandan Hutu rebel group has denied killing Italian Ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo (DPR), Luca Attanasio, in an ambush on Monday.

Mr. Attanasio was among the three persons murdered in Goma, in the province of North Kivu, after vehicles belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) convoy came under gunfire on a field trip.

The vehicles were “ambushed by a group of six attackers, who fired warning shots before taking all the passengers into the Virunga National Park”, the governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu, told the BBC.

Confirming the death of the 43-year-old former journalist, the Italian government said a policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, and a driver it did not identify also died.

Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, in a statement, described the incident as a “cowardly attack,” while stating that the “republic is in mourning for these servants of the state who lost their lives.”

The DRC’s interior ministry had in a statement, accused the Rwandan group also known as Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) of having a role in the attack.

However, debunking the ministry’s claim, the group wondered why it was linked to the assassination, with operations of many armed groups.

“More than 100 armed groups operate here; we don’t know why they linked us. We did not have a role in that heinous assassination,” Cure Ngoma told the BBC Great Lakes.

Mr. Ngoma said that “whoever will be identified as responsible for the attack should be severely punished”.

Late Attanasio, who suffered gunshot wounds in the abdomen, had been representing Italy in Kinshasa, DPR’s capital since 2017.