Russian MP Oksana Bobrovskaya and her husband have died after an explosion ripped through their car in Siberia's largest city Novosibirsk.

The bodies of Mrs Bobrovskaya and her husband Nikita Bobrovsky were found in an undressed state on the back seat of their Toyota RAV4.

Mrs Bobrovskaya was a member of Vladimir Putin's United Russian Party.

Suggestions of terrorism were discounted by Anatoly Lokot, the mayor of Novosibirsk.

“All versions regarding a terrorist act are withdrawn. 'This was not a terrorist act'," he said.

The couple had a four-year-old daughter.

Mrs Bobrovskaya was the deputy general director of Diskus Plus company, one of Novosibirsk's largest building firms.

The car exploded just outside the company’s offices.

A witness recalled hearing a clap like a shot.

" I thought maybe something had fallen from the apartment block roof onto a car, or cars had collided. There were no screams.

“Residents gazed through their windows, I went to see. I saw that the two were in the back seat."

Belfast Telegraph