Italy's Meloni offers solidarity with journalist after explosive device targets his car

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ROME (AP) — An explosive device detonated under the car of one of Italy’s leading investigative journalists that was parked outside his home, prompting condemnation Friday from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and others. No one was injured.

Report, the investigative series on Italy’s state-run RAI3, said the explosion overnight destroyed the car of Sigfrido Ranucci and damaged a second family car and the house next to it in Pomezia, south of Rome. It said the blast was so powerful that it could have killed anyone passing by.

Police, firefighters, forensic crews were investigating, Report said.

Meloni expressed her solidarity with Ranucci, the lead anchor of Report, and condemned what she called “the serious act of intimidation he has suffered.”

“Freedom and independence of information are essential values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend,” she said in a statement.

Report is one of the few investigative programs on Italian television and regularly breaks news involving prominent Italian politicians, business leaders and public figures. Just this week, Ranucci was absolved in the latest defamation case he has faced for one of Report’s stories.