A Russian serviceman was killed Thursday morning when his car exploded in the Shushary area of St. Petersburg's Pushkin District, Russia's Investigative Committee said, opening a murder investigation^1,2,3,4.

The blast occurred around 7 a.m. local time on Kolpinskoye Highway, also reported as Kolpino Highway, in the Slavyanka neighborhood, according to the St. Petersburg outlet Fontanka as cited by several news organizations^1,2,3,4.

Fontanka said the vehicle was badly damaged after the driver had gone about 300 meters and that a nearby passenger bus had its windows shattered; Meduza, citing Fontanka, said 30 to 40 people were on board and that no one on the bus was injured^1,3.

Russian authorities have not officially identified the dead man or confirmed what caused the explosion^1,2,3. Fontanka reported he was a colonel and chief navigator of the 6th Air and Air Defence Army, and that an explosive device attached under the car was detonated remotely as he drove away^1,2,3,4.

The television channel 78 said the colonel was 51, served in the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense, and is survived by a wife and two children, Meduza reported³. The independent outlet Agentstvo, cited by Meduza, offered two unconfirmed names from leaked registration data near the site: Dmitry Lobodin, described as chief navigator of that army, and Andrei Khodykin, described as a deputy commander for military-political work³.

Fontanka said a family member nearby was also hurt^1,2. Kyiv Independent, citing Fontanka, placed the blast near a Lenta supermarket and a Tatneft gas station⁴.

Meduza, citing Fontanka, said a 31-year-old St. Petersburg resident who worked at a Lenta supermarket had been following the serviceman for at least a month and later left Russia for Turkey³. That account has not been confirmed by the Investigative Committee in the reporting reviewed here³.

The explosion was in the same district as an August car bombing that killed Lt. Col. Sergei Sechkov of an Air Force and Air Defense unit and injured his wife; Fontanka said Thursday's blast was about half a kilometer from that site^3,4. Kyiv Independent dated the Sechkov blast Aug. 27 and identified him as a major⁴.

Africanews and Euronews said investigators have not established a link between Thursday's explosion and Russia's war in Ukraine^1,2. Kyiv Independent noted that Russian military officials have previously been targeted in car bombings, sometimes in operations attributed to Ukraine⁴. Ukraine has not been publicly tied to Thursday's blast in the accounts reviewed^1,2,3,4.