Explosion in Moscow kills three, including two police officers, near site of general's car bombing

Three people, including two traffic police officers, were killed in an explosion in southern Moscow on Wednesday, Russian investigators said, just days after a car bomb killed a high-ranking general in the same area.

The two traffic police officers were approaching a suspicious individual near a parked police vehicle when an explosive device detonated, according to Russia's Investigative Committee. The officers were rushed to hospital but later died of their injuries. A third person standing nearby also died in the blast.

The explosion occurred on Yeletskaya Street in the Oréjovo-Borísovo district of southern Moscow, approximately 300 meters from the location where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb on Monday. Sarvarov was the head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff.

Investigators said the two officers saw the suspicious person near their service vehicle and approached to detain him when the explosive device was triggered. The identity of the suspect, who also died in the blast, has not been revealed.

Russia's Investigative Committee opened criminal cases under clauses dealing with the murder of law enforcement officers and the illegal trafficking of explosives. Investigators and forensic experts worked at the scene to gather evidence and clarify the circumstances of the incident.

The blast marks the second attack in the same area of the Russian capital within three days. Russia has attributed the car bombing that killed Sarvarov to Ukrainian intelligence. Ukraine's military intelligence has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Russian military figures and prominent supporters of the war in Ukraine during the nearly four-year-old conflict.