Photographs of journalists, (R-L) Orhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguyev, who were recently killed in Central African Republic by unidentified assailants, are on display outside the Central House of Journalists in Moscow, Russia August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday a preliminary investigation showed three Russian journalists were killed in the Central African Republic this week by assailants who wanted to rob them.

The three journalists, whose employer said they were investigating Russian mercenaries in the torn country, tried to resist their attackers when they were killed, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow on Friday.