At least two girls were killed and several others injured after a bomb exploded in front of a school in the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Saturday, the Sky TG4 television news channel reported.
The blast occured as pupils were arriving at the Francesca Morvillo Falcone girls' vocational school for morning classes.
The school is named after murdered anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone and his wife, who were killed by a car bomb in 1992.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Brindisi Mayor Mimmo Consales has blamed what he described as an "unprecedented attack" on the local mafia network.
At least two of the injured are in a critical condition, local civil protection official Fabiano Amati told the television news channel Sky TG24.
Police are investigating the scene of the blast.
Local media reported he bomb had been placed in a rubbish container just outside the school. The newspaper La Repubblica said there had been three blasts and that the explosives had been in bags. exploded.
