Car bomb kills senior Russian general in Moscow

A senior Russian military figure was killed Friday after a vehicle exploded in the town of Balashikha in the Moscow region, the Investigative Committee of Russia said.

A senior Russian military figure was killed Friday after a vehicle exploded in the town of Balashikha in the Moscow region, the Investigative Committee of Russia said.

Russian authorities had launched a criminal inquiry into the death of Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement Friday on behalf of the committee, which is Russia's main federal criminal investigations authority.

Moskalik was killed in the explosion of a Volkswagen Golf in the city of Balashikha following the “detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with shrapnel,” Petrenko added.

He is the latest in a long line of senior Russian military figures to be killed in bombings since Moscow invaded Ukraine three years ago.

Speaking to the media the same day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the blast a "terrorist attack." Authorities in Moscow have used similar language following previous bombing attacks on army personnel that were alleged to have been carried out by or on behalf of Ukraine.