Three members of the Gendarmerie Carabinieri were killed and 13 police officers were injured in an explosion as law enforcement attempted to carry out an eviction near the northeastern Italian city of Verona, authorities said on Tuesday.
Two middle-aged brothers and their sister have been detained in connection with the explosion in the town of Castel d’Azzano, 10 kilometers southwest of Verona, police said.
“While our Carabinieri was carrying out a judicial order, they were hit by a deliberate explosion of a petrol tank,” Colonel Claudio Pagano, commander of the Verona Carabinieri, told the television news channel Sky TG24.
He called it “an absolutely crazy gesture.”
The two-story farmhouse was filled with gas and an explosion occurred when authorities opened the door, local governor Luca Zaia told Sky TG24.
Police said the explosion destroyed the building.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the incident was a “real tragedy”, saying “witnesses said they could smell gas when they entered the house, and a few minutes later there was an explosion.”
Dino Ramponi, 63, his brother Franco, 65, and sister Maria Luisa, 59, left the scene after the explosion, but were reportedly chased into the countryside by the Carabinieri and arrested.
Dino and Maria Luisa were both injured in the explosion.
It was the second time authorities have tried to evict the brothers, who had occupied the abandoned structure about a year ago.
Zaia said another eviction attempt was thwarted last year when the brothers threatened to blow up the house.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Defense Minister Guido Crossetto each expressed condolences over the death of the Carabinieri, one of Italy’s three national police forces.
Additional sources of information • AP