| Italy in shock after school bomb blast kills teenager May 19th 2012, 21:06  By Gildas Leroux | AFP – 31 mins ago A 16-year-old girl died and five other teens were seriously injured in southern Italy Saturday in a bomb blast outside a vocational school, with local media pointing to a possible mafia link. There were scenes of chaos and carnage after a powerful blast went off at the entrance of the building as students were arriving for classes at the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school in the city of Brindisi. "I was opening the window and the blast wave hit me. I saw kids on the ground. All blackened. Their books on fire. It was terrifying," an employee at the prosecutor's office next to the school told the Repubblica daily. Another eyewitness told local television: "I had just gone into the bar in front of the school. I saw everything falling." A tearful middle-aged woman, who was still visibly under shock, said: "It was an incredibly powerful explosion. I saw a girl lying on the ground and another one who got up and started shouting: 'Melissa! Melissa!'" The victim was identified as Melissa Bassi, local emergency officials said. The device was composed of three gas canisters with a timer device hidden in a container next to a wall just outside the school, Italian media reported, citing investigators. The scene of the blast showed debris over a wide area. Local emergency official Fabiano Amati told the news channel Sky Tg24 one 16-year-old girl "did not survive". Hospital official Paola Ciannamea told reporters that one of the injured girls, who is also 16 and had initially been reported as dead by police sources cited by Italian media, was alive but in a "very serious condition". The four other victims being treated are all suffering from extensive burns including one who risks losing her legs and another who has serious injuries to her chest, Italian media cited a statement from the hospital as saying. The blast went off around 7:45 am (0545 GMT). Most Italian schoolchildrn and students attend classes on Saturday. The school, which teaches social work, tourism and fashion, was due to hold a fashion show later in the day. The bomb caused shockwaves across Italy, with Prime Minister Mario Monti ordering flags flown at half-mast across the country for three days. The government called it "an extremely grave and atrocious criminal act." Monti promised to prevent "the return of subversive temptations in our country" -- a reference to a wave of attacks by political militants and the mafia that traumatised Italian society in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The president of neighbouring France, Francois Hollande, expressed his country's "deep solidarity" with the Italy in the face of this "odious attack". Both Monti and Hollande are attending the G8 summit in the United States. Local civil society organisations are planning a large demonstration later on Saturday in Brindisi in solidarity with the victims of the attack. "This is a horrific attack that feels like sacrilege. We must act firmly and with determination," said Nichi Vendola, governor of the local Apulia region. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast and Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said investigators were looking into "numerous hypotheses." She cautioned against hasty conclusions and said the techniques used in the bombing were "unusual" and "anomalous," without giving further details. Media reports said the police were looking into a possible mafia connection but there was also a hypothesis that it could be linked to a jealous row. Brindisi mayor Mimmo Consales cast doubt on a mafia link saying: "Frankly the device, the methods used do not correspond to organised crime." Top anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso visited the scene of the blast and investigators were expected to give a press conference later on Saturday. The school is named after the wife of the famous anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, who was killed by Cosa Nostra in a bomb attack in Sicily along with her and their three bodyguards 20 years ago on Wednesday. The Sacra Corona Unita, the local mafia in the Apulia region, is involved in drug smuggling and human trafficking. The group has been targeted by numerous police raids in recent days and is believed to be on the wane. Father Luigi Ciotti, the founder of anti-mafia association Libera, told AFP at Brindisi airport: "The mafia is only afraid of one thing: culture, education. The only response is to mobilise against the mafia." 
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