Two police ⁠officers ​and another ‍person have been ‍killed in ⁠blast in southern ​Moscow, ‌according to the Russian Investigative Committee.

The two traffic police officers were killed overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday in an explosion that occurred when they attempted to arrest a suspicious individual, the Committee said in a statement on Wednesday.

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“An explosive device was triggered” as the officers approached the suspect who was near their service vehicle, the statement said.

“Two police officers succumbed to their injuries,” the statement said, adding that the person standing next to them also died in the explosion.

An investigation for “attempted murder” of law enforcement officers and “explosives trafficking” has been opened, it added.

The area was cordoned off by a large police presence, according to images broadcast by Russian television.

The incident occurred on Yeletskaya Street in southern Moscow, near the site where a Russian General Fanil Sarvarov was killed earlier this week.

Sarvarov, head of the operational training department within the Russian General Staff, was killed on Monday by an explosive device placed under a car.

Since the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, several Russian generals, local officials, and public figures supporting the offensive have died in explosions in Russia or in the occupied part of Ukraine. Kyiv has sometimes claimed responsibility for these attacks.

More to come…