(AP Photo/Max Frigione)

The school is located in Brindisi, a port city on the Italian peninsula.

According to Reuters, although “officials initially suggested a local mafia group was the main suspect,” investigators later stated that “the rudimentary nature of the bomb and the targeting of an all-girls secondary school did not point toward organized crime.” No one has yet claimed responsibility for the crime.

Mimmo Consales, the mayor of Brindisi, explained that “whoever did this aimed to kill.”

Reuters reports that the school is named after the wife of anti-Mafia Judge Falcone, both of whom were murdered in a bombing in 1992. According to Reuters, Consales also noted that the girls’ school was bombed just a few days before the 20th anniversary of the murder of Falcone and his wife. Consales explained, “an anti-Mafia march had been planned in Brindisi later in the day,” and remarked that “You can understand the symbolism of this and what it all signifies.”

However, Cataldo Motta, the region’s anti-mafia magistrate, told reporters “coincidences may only be coincidences.” Consales appears to agree:

“The homemade bomb, detonated with a timer, did not match past mafia-related blasts, where high explosives were set off by remote control. The attack on school children also did not fit in with the mafia's usual tactics, which were focused on fostering local support not undermining it, Consales said.”

The Associated Press reports:

“Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri, in charge of domestic security, said she was ‘struck’ by the fact that the school was named after the slain hero and his wife, but she cautioned that investigators at that point ‘have no elements’ to blame the school attack on organized crime.”

According to Reuters, schools in the area have been closed, and a rally “to express disgust for the attack” has begun in the main square of the city. The anti-Mafia demonstrators cancelled the march planned for Saturday and have “agreed to join in the larger one sponsored by local officials. Marches to express solidarity after the bombing were announced in Milan, Rome and other cities.”

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