Russia: Senior official killed in Moscow car explosion

A car explosion in the Balashikha area of Russia's Moscow Oblast killed one person, Russian media reported on Friday.

Official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia Svetlana Petrenko confirmed that the individual who died was Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff Major General Yaroslav Moskalik, adding that a criminal case has been opened.

Law enforcement sources told TASS that the improvised explosive device "was filled with shrapnel," with pieces of it scattering nearby. "The explosion was amplified by a gas cylinder that was in the car," one of the sources added. Meanwhile, RIA Novosti detailed that the incident happened in the courtyard of a residential building on Nesterov Boulevard.