An explosion in Kyiv on Wednesday killed a bodyguard and wounded three people, including Ukrainian lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk, Ukrainian officials said, describing the incident as a deliberate attack.

Mosiychuk, a member of the opposition Radical Party, was hospitalized but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, while his bodyguard was killed, according to party leader Oleh Lyashko.

Interior Ministry adviser Zoryan Shkiryak said investigators were at the scene of the incident, where it appeared a motorcycle had been blown up near the entrance to a TV station.

“Unfortunately, one [blast victim] could not be saved. He died on the way to the hospital from the wounds he received,” he said.

Kyiv police spokeswoman Oksana Blyshchyk said that at 19:05 GMT  authorities had received information about a car explosion in the Solomensky district of Kyiv.

There was no immediate word from police on possible suspects or a motive for the attack, but Lyashko said he had no doubt the incident was politically motivated.

“The attempt on Mosiychuk’s life was linked to his professional activities and political position,” he said on Facebook.

Since fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014, the number of incidents involving explosives outside the conflict zone has increased, but vehicle bombings are relatively rare.

In June, a colonel in Ukraine’s military intelligence was killed by a car bomb in central Kyiv, while in 2016 a prominent investigative journalist, Pavel Sheremet, was killed by the detonation of an explosive device in his car.

Radical Party lawmaker Evhen Deidei posted photos on his Facebook page from the scene of Wednesday’s attack that showed the burned-out shell of a motorcycle in front of a blast-hit vehicle.

“Judging by the damage to the car and the shrapnel holes in the doors, the power of the explosion was pretty strong,” he said.

The interior ministry’s Shkiryak said political analyst Vitaliy Bala was one of the three wounded in the blast.
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