Three officers from the Carabinieri police force were killed in an explosion during a police operation in northern Italy, news agency ANSA reported on Tuesday.

Thirteen police officers, Carabinieri and firefighters were injured in the incident in Castel D’Azzano, south of the city of Verona.

ANSA reports that the officers had been in the process of clearing a country house where three people had been staying.

The Carabinieri in Verona did not initially comment when asked.

ANSA said that a brother and sister in their 60s were taken into custody on suspicion of being behind the explosion, in which the woman was also injured.

Police were looking for the third person who had been staying at the house, who was reportedly related to the siblings.

It reported that the explosion caused the two-storey building to collapse, burying the police officers.

Firefighters who were at the scene at the time of the explosion rushed to their aid.

However, it was too late to save the three Carabinieri.

(dpa/NAN)