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Three police officers lost their lives and more than a dozen people got wounded in what appears to be premeditated detonation from gas at a farmhouse in Italy's north.

Sequence of Events

The detonation was triggered as police and firefighters approached the house near Verona to carry out an court-ordered eviction for three siblings aged in their 50s and 60s.

The three deceased individuals were members of the Carabinieri military police.

Legal Proceedings

A man and a woman got detained at the location and a third person who escaped following the incident was found shortly later. Each of them have been taken to the hospital.

The explosion could be audible as far as 3 miles distant and photographs from the location displayed the building turned into a pile of rubble.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” commented the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, who noted that previous tries had been made to remove the three family members in the earlier times.

Property Situation

The head of the Veneto area, Luca Zaia, explained the farmhouse was under an court order due to debts accrued by the property owners.

Mediators had been assigned to talk with the brothers and sister who had barricaded themselves into the home. When the officers came soon after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), officials suspect one of the residents set off the explosion.

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

“A gas cylinder had been set off, and the blast directly hit our officers,” he explained.

Molotov cocktails were also discovered at the property, the Interior Minister stated.

Casualties and Damage

Injured individuals by the blast comprised eleven more officers of the military police as well as three officers of national police and a firefighter.

As stated by the prosecuting attorney, the building was in a poor condition and had was without power.

He was convinced the detonation had occurred on a floor above the entrance and informed reporters it was a “intentional and planned killing”. Moments before the blast, he revealed members had “noticed a hissing sound, likely the gas cylinders being opened”.

Local Response

“We all knew the situation was dire,” neighbors told Italian media, noting that the family members had previously threatened to “detonate the property” rather than be evicted.

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

Minister of Defence the Defence Minister joined other government officials in honoring the three men who had died in the service of their country.