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Three police officers perished and more than a dozen people got wounded in an apparently deliberate blast caused by gas at a country home in the northern part of Italy.

Event Timeline

The detonation took place as officers and emergency crews entered the house near Verona to carry out an removal notice for a brother and sister trio who were older adults.

Each of the three officers killed belonged to the Carabinieri force.

Investigation Developments

Two individuals got detained at the site and one more individual who ran away after the blast was found soon after. All three have been transported to hospital.

The blast could be audible approximately 5 kilometers away and footage from the area displayed the building turned into a pile of rubble.

“This is a time for grieving,” said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who noted that attempts had been made to remove the brother and sister trio in the earlier times.

Financial Context

The head of the Veneto region, the regional head, explained the farmhouse was subject to an removal notice due to unpaid amounts accumulated by the siblings.

Conflict resolution experts had been sent to engage the family members who had locked themselves into the home. When the police reached the location just after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), officials suspect one of the siblings caused the blast.

“Upon entering the house, we were confronted with an act of absolute madness,” regional commander the police commander told reporters.

A propane tank had been activated, and the explosion directly hit our officers,” he added.

Incendiary devices were also discovered at the residence, the minister stated.

Injuries and Destruction

Those injured by the incident consisted of eleven more officers of the Carabinieri as well as three officers of the state police and a emergency responder.

According to the prosecuting attorney, the property was in a poor condition and had no electricity.

He believed the explosion had happened on a floor above the entrance and told journalists it was a “deliberate and pre-planned murder”. Shortly before the explosion, he mentioned members had “heard a whistle, probably the gas cylinders being opened”.

Local Response

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” neighbors told reporters, mentioning that the trio had earlier warned to “cause an explosion” rather than vacate the property.

“The explosion had left a ‘terrible, very painful and dramatic toll’.”

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto united with other political leaders in commemorating the three men who had lost their lives in the line of duty.