The explosion took place on a highway in the southern part of the city on Thursday morning. The lieutenant colonel was killed instantly and his wife is being treated in hospital, according to the relatively independent but strictly state-controlled Fontanka.
The man is said to have belonged to the Russian Air Force and, according to information from Russian Telegram channels, he was a pilot. Fontanka publishes pictures from the scene of the explosion and notes that blown-up parts of the car have been scattered over a large area. The newspaper says it was a car bomb.
Authorities have confirmed that one person has died and that one person has been taken to hospital after what is formally described as a car fire.
