We in the El Reg Bootnotes secretariat need little excuse to make reference to classic Brit movie The Italian Job, so it's with great pleasure that we bring you news of German bank robbers who, in attempting to blow the doors off a rural bank, managed to destroy the entire building.

The highly-skilled explosives experts reportedly placed a device based on "petrol or acetylene" against the doors of the establishment in the northern village of Malliss on Tuesday night.

The resulting blast "damaged nearby cars and buildings" and brought down the bank, although there were no casualties.

The BBC explains: "The presence of a delivery van near the site of the explosion indicated that the suspected thieves may have intended to drive off with the cash dispenser."

The cash machine, however, remained undamaged in the ruins, and the master criminals are not thought to have got away with any booty. ®

Related stories

• Italian Job sat nav driver cops £900 fine (17 September 2009)
• IT manager sorts Italian Job cliffhanger (23 January 2009)
• The Italian Job rated top Brit movie (18 December 2006)