Emma Pengelly
Image source
A uniquely yellow-fronted residential building in the background helped us verify the footage.
We are checking images and video posted this morning that purport to show the scene of a reported vehicle-borne explosive explosion that Russian officials state fatally injured a high-ranking military officer in Moscow.
Russian authorities confirmed that Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov was in the car that exploded and that he later died to his injuries. A probe is under way.
Our starting point to check the location from which the pictures were from relied on social media reports indicating the explosion happened on Yasenevaya Street in the southern part of the Russian capital.
We used street-view imagery on digital map platforms and the Russian search engine Yandex to match the distinctive yellow colour of a nearby apartment building captured in the footage.
Locating other buildings, streetlights and the street layout confirmed the exact location the footage were taken.
Additionally, we verified that the video clips were new and that the visuals had not been manipulated.
