The car of Sigfrido Ranucci, journalist and host of Report, and that of his daughter exploded and were completely engulfed in flames .

The journalist himself reported the news on social media. "An explosive device," the post reads, "destroyed cars parked in front of a house in Campo Ascolano (a hamlet of Pomezia, ed.), just outside Rome. The explosions were so powerful they shook the entire neighborhood."

The cars were parked in front of Ranucci's home. The explosion "could have killed," the post explains. The device, containing about a kilo of explosives , had been placed between the car and a gate. The debris was seized and will be subjected to investigation.

"The car blew up," it reads, "also damaging the family's other car and the house next door. Carabinieri, Digos (Special Operations Unit), firefighters, and forensic scientists were on site. The competent prosecutor's office has begun investigating and notified the prefect. The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at that moment ."

And Ranucci explained that his daughter had passed by just before that point, safe by a matter of minutes .

"My daughter parked her car and passed by there twenty minutes before the incident," the host says. " It appears to be a rudimentary device, but now we need to determine the nature of the explosive. With all the threats we're receiving, it's not easy to trace the source ."

The device was not activated remotely or with a timer, but was left outside the house, presumably with the fuse lit.

In the video posted by the program Report on social media, the front of the journalist's car is completely destroyed, and the car next to it, his daughter's, is damaged. Ranucci explained that his son had parked his car there yesterday at lunchtime .

The host, who has been under police protection since 2014 following death threats from the mafia , has also long denounced "the climate of isolation and delegitimization towards me", recalling having received various threats in recent times, from the discovery of two P38 bullets outside his home to the tailing of individuals identified by his escort.

"I reconstructed yesterday's events with the Carabinieri," Ranucci stated as he left the Carabinieri headquarters on Via Trionfale. "There's an endless list of threats, of various kinds, that I've received, which I've always reported to the judicial authorities, and which my security detail has always reported. I feel at ease, however, in the sense that the state and the institutions have always supported me in these months. Last night's incident was a worrying step forward, because it was right in front of my house, where bullets were found last year."

The Rome Anti-Mafia prosecutors are investigating the case. Currently, DDA prosecutor Carlo Villani—coordinated by deputy prosecutor Ilaria Calò—is proceeding with charges of damage with the aggravating circumstance of mafia methods, awaiting initial information from the police who intervened. The Carabinieri are acquiring images from wide-area surveillance cameras that may have captured the bomb planter .

The journalist received expressions of solidarity from across the political spectrum, starting with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni , who condemned the "cowardly attack." Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi mandated that "every measure to protect Ranucci be strengthened to the maximum."

"Deepest solidarity and closeness" also from President Alessandra Todde . Tonight's attack is a " cowardly and unacceptable act that strikes not only a courageous journalist, but everyone's right to free and independent information . It is an attack that sets Italy back many decades , that attacks the very idea of democracy. Let us maintain high levels of vigilance and democratic vigilance."

In recent days, the host of Report had announced the topics of the program's next season on social media. "It might not be a coincidence that a few days ago I announced the topics of the new investigations," Ranucci said.

"Our team has been working flat out," he explained in the video. "We'll start on October 26th, every Sunday on Rai3 starting at 8:30 PM. It will be the usual Report, we'll talk about how things are going in the world of culture, funding, we'll talk about schools, research, universities, we'll also talk about what's happening in the world of wind power , and then we'll get back to talking about the banks," he said. "The banks were one of Report's main topics until a few years ago. What happened? What changed? We'll get back to talking about healthcare , which is a sore point in our country due to the lack of doctors, the lack of nurses, the lack of services that were once guaranteed. We'll see where the millions of euros coming from the United States to finance a political project end up, and also where those disbursed by the Ministry of Agriculture to finance porcini mushroom festivals end up," Ranucci added. We'll also look at how and by whom the Banca Progetto money was used, which magistrates say also ended up in the hands of the 'Ndrangheta. We'll analyze the relationship between the 'Ndrangheta and the far right. We'll discuss Matteo Messina Denaro's role in Verona and the battle being waged behind the Anti-Mafia Commission's backs . And who is the Data Protection Authority's guarantor?

"Ranucci, you are not alone," was the sign with which journalists and workers at the Rai Production Center in Turin took to the streets today at the assembly. "What happened to Sigfrido Ranucci," said Stefano Tallia, a Rai journalist and president of the Piedmont Journalists' Association, "is very serious, because it represents an intimidation unlike anything we've seen in our country for years . Clearly, this is an attack on him, an attack on his team, and on the investigations they're conducting, but it's an attack on free information as a whole . Because anywhere in the world, when you want to turn off the spotlight on what's happening within society, you attack journalists, or you try to attack journalists."

(Unioneonline/L)

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