A Russian general has been killed in a car bombing in Moscow, officials have said.
Russia's Investigative Committee stated that Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov died on Monday morning after an explosive device planted under a car detonated.
He is the third military official to have been killed in bomb attacks in the Russian capital over the last year. Sarvarov, 56, was the head of the armed forces' operational training department, the committee reported.
One theory being investigated is that the bomb was planted with the involvement of Ukrainian intelligence services; however, Ukraine has not commented on this accusation.
Sarvarov succumbed to his injuries in hospital, prompting the committee to launch an investigation into murder and illegal trafficking of explosives. Investigators have already been sent to the scene, which is a car park near an apartment complex in southern Moscow.
Images from the site depict a severely damaged white Kia Sorento, with its doors blown out and surrounded by other vehicles.
According to Russian media, Sarvarov had a background in combat operations during various conflicts, including the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and the Chechen wars, as well as leading operations in Syria between 2015-2016.
Vladimir Putin was promptly informed of Sarvarov's death, as reported by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. This incident comes amid a spate of targeted attacks against military officials and prominent individuals in Moscow since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Notably, Darya Dugina, daughter of a prominent nationalist figure and close ally to Putin, was killed in a suspected car bombing in 2022. Last April, Gen Yaroslav Moskalik was similarly killed in a car bomb attack, while Gen Igor Kirillov died in December 2024 from a device that was detonated remotely.
A Ukrainian source later claimed that Kirillov had been killed by Ukraine's security service, although this claim remains unverified.
