🔗 Share this article

A trio of officers were killed and more than a dozen people sustained injuries in a seemingly intentional blast caused by gas at a farmhouse in Italy's north.

Sequence of Events

The explosion was triggered as police and firefighters entered the house near Verona to enforce an removal notice for a brother and sister trio who were older adults.

All three officers killed served in the Italian military police.

Arrests and Aftermath

Two individuals were taken into custody at the site and another man who fled following the explosion was located soon after. All three have been taken to medical facility.

The detonation could be noticed as far as 3 miles distant and footage from the location revealed the structure reduced to a mass of wreckage.

“This is a time for grieving,” said the Minister of the Interior the Interior Minister, who noted that efforts had been made to displace the three family members in the previous occasions.

Financial Context

The president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, said the property was under an removal notice due to unpaid amounts accumulated by the siblings.

Mediators had been dispatched to talk with the siblings who had secured themselves into the property. When the police reached the location shortly after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), authorities think a family member triggered the detonation.

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

“A gas cylinder had been ignited, and the blast precisely impacted our members,” he explained.

Incendiary devices were also discovered at the site, the Interior Minister stated.

Casualties and Damage

The wounded by the blast comprised eleven more officers of the military police as well as a trio of personnel of Italy's state police and a fire services member.

As stated by the prosecuting attorney, the farmhouse was in a derelict state and had was without power.

He believed the blast had happened on a floor above the entrance and stated to reporters it was a “premeditated and voluntary homicide”. Just prior to the incident, he said personnel had “heard a whistle, likely the gas canisters being turned on”.

Local Response

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” neighbors stated to local news, noting that the family members had earlier warned to “blow themselves up” rather than vacate the property.

“The blast resulted in a ‘horrific, deeply distressing and tragic cost’.”

The Defense Minister Minister Crosetto joined other elected representatives in paying tribute to the three men who had died in the service of their country.