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Three police officers perished and at least 15 others sustained injuries in an apparently deliberate blast caused by gas at a country home in the northern part of Italy.

Sequence of Events

The blast was triggered as officers and emergency crews approached the house close to the city of Verona to carry out an eviction order for two brothers and a sister aged in their 50s and 60s.

The three officers killed served in the Carabinieri military police.

Legal Proceedings

A man and a woman got detained at the scene and a third person who fled subsequent to the blast was found shortly later. Each of them have been taken to hospital.

The blast could be noticed some 5km (3 miles) away and footage from the location displayed the structure reduced to a pile of rubble.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” said the Interior Minister Minister Piantedosi, who mentioned that previous tries had been made to evict the three siblings in the earlier times.

Background and Motive

The leader of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, stated the property was under an removal notice due to debts incurred by the property owners.

Mediators had been dispatched to speak to the brothers and sister who had barricaded themselves into the house. When the officers came just after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), authorities suspect one of the residents caused the explosion.

“Upon entering the house, we were confronted with an act of absolute madness,” provincial police commander Commander Papagno stated to news outlets.

“A gas cylinder had been activated, and the blast immediately struck our members,” he said.

Incendiary devices were also located at the property, the minister confirmed.

Impact Assessment

The wounded by the incident included 11 other members of the military police as well as three officers of national police and a emergency responder.

Based on information from the local prosecutor, the property was in a derelict state and had was without power.

The official was convinced the explosion had occurred on a story above the entrance and told journalists it was a “intentional and planned killing”. Just prior to the explosion, he said members had “noticed a hissing sound, likely the gas cylinders being opened”.

Local Response

“We all knew the situation was dire,” nearby inhabitants informed Italian media, noting that the three had previously threatened to “blow themselves up” rather than leave the house.

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

Defence Minister Minister Crosetto joined other elected representatives in paying tribute to the three men who had been killed in the service of their country.