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Russia’s head of chemical weapons was killed on Tuesday when a bomb in a scooter in Moscow went off.
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His assistant also died in the attack, the country’s investigative committee said.
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Ukraine was behind the attack, a Ukrainian Security Service source told BI.
A high-ranking Russian general responsible for Russia’s chemical weapons was killed on Tuesday by a bomb in a scooter.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter parked on a street in Moscow, the country’s investigative committee said in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday.
“According to the investigation, on the morning of December 17, an explosive device was detonated in a scooter parked next to the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow,” the statement said.
“As a result of the incident, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed,” it added.
The committee said it had opened a criminal case into the murder of two servicemen in Moscow.
The statement said investigators and forensic experts were working at the scene.
The Russian investigations committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
A source inside Ukraine’s Security Service with knowledge of the attack told Business Insider the agency was behind Kirillov’s death.
They said that a scooter with explosives was detonated when Kirillov and his assistant were entering a house on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow.
BI couldn’t independently verify the claim.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target,” the source said, accusing Kirillov of giving orders to use banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces.
They added: “Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Read the original article on Business Insider