Car bomb kills military intelligence colonel in Kiev

A car bomb in Ukraine's capital Kiev has killed a colonel working for the country's military intelligence, officials have said.

Police said an explosive device in the vehicle went off as the car was moving, kiling the colonel who was driving and wounding a passer-by on Tuesday (27 June).

The defence ministry described the blast as a "terrorist act".

"As a result of [the explosion] a member of the defense ministry's main intelligence department, Colonel Maksim Shapoval, was killed," the ministry said in a statement.

No-one has so far claimed responsibility for the incident.

Ukraine has been fighting against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country since 2014.

Violence erupted after the then president Viktor Yanukovych spurned a trade and investment deal with Europe, in favour of tighter collaborations with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

After a three-month conflict, which claimed the lives of dozens of civilians, Yanukovych fled Ukraine and Russia invaded Crimea to "defend ethnic Russians" in the peninsula.

Although explosions have occurred outside the conflict zone, car bombs are rare in the country.

However, in a similar incident last July, prominent investigative journalist, Pavel Sheremet, died when an explosive device planted in his car went off.