- A United Nations employee and Congolese citizen is under investigation for the murder of Italy's ambassador to Congo and two other people.
- He is being investigated for allegedly failing to take sufficient precautions to prevent the attack which happened on 22 February.
- The ambassador, his driver and bodyguard were killed during a botched kidnapping.
A United Nations employee has been placed under investigation by Italian prosecutors looking into the murder of Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two other people, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
The unidentified employee is a Congolese citizen and works for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP). He is under investigation for allegedly failing to take sufficient precautions to prevent the fatal attack on 22 February.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their WFP driver Mustapha Milambo were all killed during a botched kidnapping on a road in eastern Congo, as they were heading to visit a UN humanitarian project at a nearby school.
An important transport artery in the region, the road did not require UN agencies to use armed escorts, according to a designation by the UN Department for Safety and Security.
However, the number of people kidnapped for ransom in the area had more than doubled to 28 over the last year, and Italian media have questioned why security was not beefed up for Attanasio's trip.
Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the murders and recently interviewed a number of WFP staff members.
Being placed under investigation does not imply guilt and does not mean that charges will necessarily be brought.
The WFP's deputy director of communications, Greg Barrow, said the Rome-based agency was cooperating willingly with investigations into the attack.
"WFP hopes that the perpetrators of this heinous criminal act will swiftly be brought to justice," he said.