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Three police officers perished and more than a dozen others got wounded in what appears to be deliberate gas explosion at a country home in Italy's north.

Sequence of Events

The explosion occurred as officers and emergency crews entered the residence in the vicinity of Verona to carry out an eviction order for a brother and sister trio aged in their 50s and 60s.

The three officers killed belonged to the Carabinieri military police.

Legal Proceedings

One male and one female were taken into custody at the scene and a third person who fled following the blast was found not long after. The trio have been taken to medical facility.

The explosion could be audible as far as 3 miles distant and footage from the location showed the building reduced to a heap of debris.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” commented the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, who added that efforts had been made to evict the three family members in the previous occasions.

Background and Motive

The president of the Veneto area, the regional head, explained the farmhouse was under an eviction order due to unpaid amounts accrued by the three owners.

Negotiators had been assigned to speak to the family members who had locked themselves into the home. When the police reached the location soon after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), investigators suspect one of the residents set off the detonation.

“As we went inside, we encountered a completely deranged action,” regional commander Claudio Papagno informed the media.

A gas canister had been ignited, and the detonation precisely impacted our members,” he said.

Incendiary devices were also discovered at the property, the Interior Minister confirmed.

Impact Assessment

Injured individuals by the incident consisted of an additional 11 personnel of the Carabinieri as well as three members of the state police and a emergency responder.

As stated by the prosecuting attorney, the farmhouse was in a dilapidated shape and had no electricity.

He thought the blast had taken place on a level above the doorway and stated to reporters it was a “deliberate and pre-planned murder”. Just prior to the explosion, he mentioned members had “detected a whistling noise, presumably the gas cylinders being turned on”.

Neighbor Statements

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” nearby inhabitants told Italian media, mentioning that the family members had previously threatened to “blow themselves up” rather than leave the house.

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

Minister of Defence Minister Crosetto united with other government officials in paying tribute to the trio of personnel who had died in the line of duty.