The Russian Investigative Committee reported that three people, including two traffic police officers, were killed last night in an explosion in southern Moscow.
The agency said in a statement that traffic police officers spotted a suspicious individual driving near the local police department. According to the statement, the bomb exploded as two officers approached him.
Moscow traffic police identified the victims as 24-year-old Ilya Klimanov and 25-year-old Maxim Gorbunov, who had joined the force in October 2023 and February 2022, respectively.
Gorbunov leaves behind a nine-month-old daughter. Officials said that all necessary assistance would be provided to the victims’ families.
Authorities are currently investigating the incident.
Footage broadcast by Russian television showed the scene heavily guarded by police.
The explosion occurred on Yelitskaya Street, near the location where General Fanil Sarfarov, head of the Operational Training Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, was killed. Sarfarov died on Monday morning in a car bombing in Moscow.
Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022, several Russian generals, local officials, and pro-war figures have been killed in explosions across Russia or in occupied Ukrainian territories.
Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some of these attacks.
