Italy bomb squad expert loses eye, hand to exploding package

ROME — Police in Florence say a bomb squad officer lost an eye and had to have a hand amputated after a suspicious package he was examining exploded before dawn Sunday.

Florence Police Chief Alberto Intini told reporters that the package left outside a shuttered bookshop with links to a group of extreme right activists, CasaPound, had caught the attention of a passing police patrol.

The explosives squad was called to intervene, at about 5 a.m., and that’s when the officer was gravely injured, police spokesman Cesare Taraschi said.

The blast was under investigation.