An overnight explosion in southern Moscow killed three people, including two police officers, near the site where a Russian general was killed by a car bomb earlier this week, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.
The blast occurred when two traffic police officers approached a “suspicious individual near a police service vehicle,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement. The officers and the individual were all killed in the explosion.
Investigators released video footage showing debris scattered across an empty street and a blurred body at the scene. Other videos circulating on social media showed a heavy police presence overnight.
The Investigative Committee said investigators were examining the scene and conducting forensic tests, including medical and explosives analyses.
Alexander Bastrykin, who heads the law enforcement agency, ordered federal-level forensic experts to join the probe to identify those responsible and determine the circumstances of the blast.
Moscow’s investigative office said it was treating the incident as an attempted killing of a law enforcement officer and was also investigating possible illegal explosives trafficking.
The explosion occurred around 1:30 a.m. on Yeletskaya Street in the Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district of Moscow, according to Russian television, which cited eyewitnesses. The area was cordoned off and remained under heavy police guard as of Wednesday morning.
Yeletskaya Street intersects with the street where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed on Monday after a bomb detonated underneath his car.
Law enforcement authorities launched a murder investigation into that killing and said they were examining possible involvement by Ukrainian intelligence services.
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