Three members of Italy's military police, the carabinieri, were killed and another 13 officers injured in an explosion as law enforcement attempted to carry out an eviction near the northeastern city of Verona, authorities said on Tuesday.
Two middle-aged brothers and their sister were detained in connection to the blast in the town of Castel d’Azzano, 10 kilometres southwest of Verona, police said.
"While our carabinieri were carrying out a judicial order, they were hit by an intentional explosion of a gas tank,’" Verona's carabinieri commander, Colonel Claudio Pagano, told the TV news channel, Sky TG24.
He called it "an absolutely crazy gesture."
The two-storey farmhouse had been filled with gas and the explosion was set off when authorities opened the door, regional governor Luca Zaia told Sky TG24.
Police said the explosion destroyed the building.
"Upon entering the house, witnesses say they smelled gas and a few moments later there was an explosion," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said, calling the incident "a real tragedy."
Dino Ramponi, 63, his 65-year-old brother Franco and their 59-year-old sister Maria Luisa reportedly walked away from the scene after the explosion but were tracked down and arrested by the carabinieri in the countryside.
Dino and Maria Luisa both sustained injuries from the blast.
It was the second time authorities attempted to evict the siblings, who had occupied the abandoned structure about a year ago.
Another eviction attempt was thwarted last year when the siblings threatened to blow the house up, Zaia said.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto each expressed their condolences for the deaths of the carabinieri, one of three national police forces in Italy.
