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Three police officers were killed and more than a dozen others got wounded in a seemingly deliberate blast caused by gas at a farmhouse in Italy's north.

Event Timeline

The explosion occurred as police and firefighters went into the house near the Verona region to carry out an removal notice for two brothers and a sister in their late 50s and mid-60s.

Each of the three deceased individuals belonged to the Carabinieri force.

Legal Proceedings

A man and a woman got detained at the scene and one more individual who fled subsequent to the incident was found not long after. All three have been taken to medical facility.

The explosion could be audible some 5km (3 miles) away and photographs from the location revealed the property turned into a heap of debris.

“This is a time for grieving,” commented the Interior Minister Minister Piantedosi, who noted that efforts had been made to displace the three siblings in the past.

Property Situation

The president of the region of Veneto, Luca Zaia, explained the farmhouse was under an court order due to debts accumulated by the siblings.

Negotiators had been sent to speak to the siblings who had secured themselves into the house. When the Carabinieri came shortly after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), officials suspect one of the siblings caused the blast.

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

A propane tank had been ignited, and the blast directly hit our members,” he said.

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

Impact Assessment

Those injured by the explosion consisted of 11 other members of the Carabinieri as well as three members of Italy's state police and a firefighter.

According to the local prosecutor, the farmhouse was in a poor condition and had no electricity.

The prosecutor was convinced the detonation had occurred on a floor above the doorway and stated to reporters it was a “intentional and planned killing”. Just prior to the explosion, he said members had “heard a whistle, presumably the gas canisters being opened”.

Local Response

“Everyone was aware the circumstances were severe,” local residents told Italian media, adding that the trio had previously threatened to “detonate the property” rather than leave the house.

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

Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto stood alongside other elected representatives in honoring the three officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty.