Bomb planted in electric scooter kills Russian nuclear protection forces chief

Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.

By REUTERS DECEMBER 17, 2024 07:36 Updated: DECEMBER 17, 2024 08:24

Igor Kirillov (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's investigative committee said.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who is chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, which starts road some 7 km (4 miles) southeast of the Kremlin.

"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," the investigative committee said.

Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.

A view shows a scene of an explosion, which reportedly killed two army officers, in Moscow, Russia December 17, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)

Investigating the murder

A criminal case has been opened.

Russia's radioactive, chemical, and biological defense troops, known as RKhBZ, are special forces that operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination.