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Three members of law enforcement were killed and more than a dozen others sustained injuries in an apparently premeditated gas explosion at a rural property in Italy's north.

Event Timeline

The explosion was triggered as officers and emergency crews entered the residence close to the Verona region to carry out an eviction order for two brothers and a sister aged in their 50s and 60s.

All three deceased individuals were members of the Carabinieri force.

Legal Proceedings

A man and a woman were taken into custody at the site and another man who escaped subsequent to the explosion was apprehended not long after. Each of them have been transported to the hospital.

The blast could be heard approximately 5 kilometers away and footage from the scene showed the property left as a pile of rubble.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” said the Interior Minister the Interior Minister, who added that efforts had been made to evict the brother and sister trio in the earlier times.

Property Situation

The head of the Veneto region, President Zaia, explained the property was facing an eviction order due to financial obligations accumulated by the three owners.

Negotiators had been assigned to engage the siblings who had barricaded themselves into the house. When the police reached the location just after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), authorities suspect one of the siblings caused the detonation.

“When we entered the property, we faced an utterly insane act,” regional commander Claudio Papagno stated to the media.

“A gas cylinder had been activated, and the detonation directly hit our personnel,” he explained.

Petrol bombs were also found at the residence, the minister stated.

Casualties and Damage

The wounded by the incident comprised 11 other members of the police force as well as three members of national police and a firefighter.

As stated by the Verona prosecutor, the property was in a derelict state and had was without power.

The official believed the detonation had occurred on a level above the doorway and told the press it was a “intentional and planned killing”. Moments before the incident, he said personnel had “noticed a hissing sound, presumably the gas cylinders being opened”.

Community Reaction

“We all knew the situation was dire,” nearby inhabitants stated to local news, adding that the three had previously threatened to “detonate the property” rather than vacate the property.

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

Minister of Defence Minister Crosetto stood alongside other government officials in honoring the three men who had been killed in the performance of their duties.