Meloni offers solidarity with top journalist after blast hits car

Sigfrido Ranucci, at the right of the picture, was targeted in the blast (LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned those behind an explosive device that detonated under the car of one of the country’s leading investigative journalists while it was parked outside his home.

No-one was injured after the blast which destroyed the vehicle of Sigfrido Ranucci and damaged a second family car and the house next to it in Pomezia, south of Rome.

Report, the investigative series on Italy’s state-run RAI3 channel, said the explosion was so powerful that it could have killed anyone passing by.

Ms Meloni hit out after the explosion (AP)

Police, firefighters and forensic crews are investigating, Report said.

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

She added: “Freedom and independence of information are essential values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend.”

Report is one of the few investigative programmes on Italian television and regularly breaks news involving prominent Italian politicians, business leaders and public figures.

Just this week, Mr Ranucci was absolved in the latest defamation case he has faced for one of Report’s stories.