Car blast kills Moldovan tennis chief Igor Turcan

Several vehicles were damaged in the blast

Moldovan tennis federation chief Igor Turcan has been killed in a car explosion near the federation headquarters in the capital, Chisinau.

Mr Turcan, 38, was passing the parked car, a Lada with Russian plates, when it blew up and burst into flame, the city's mayor told reporters.

Nobody else was hurt in the blast, Dorin Kirtoake added.

Moldovan police were not ruling out the possibility that a bomb had been set off, a local TV channel said.

The tennis chief died in hospital of wounds to his legs, stomach and head, his deputy, Marina Tauber, told reporters.

Election work

She described the explosion as an "assassination" but an interior ministry spokesman, Kirill Motspan, said either a gas canister or explosives could have been the cause of the blast.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat also said it was too early to draw conclusions about what happened.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Mr Turcan had business interests in Moldova's construction sector.

Furthermore, he headed a campaign for an independent candidate, Mihai Godea, in last weekend's election for Chisinau mayor.

"We find it strange that the car that exploded was parked near the office of the Moldovan tennis federation although it did not belong to any of our employees," Ms Tauber told local broadcaster Publika TV.