Separatist Ukrainian leader wounded in Luhansk car bombing

FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 file photo, Igor Plotnitsky, the leader of pro-Russian rebels in the Luhansk region, speaks to the media after talks on cease-fire in Ukraine in Minsk, Belarus. Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's separatist region of Luhansk say Plotnitsky has been wounded in a car bombing, taken to hospital and is now in a stable condition. The rebel-run Luhansk Information Center says an unidentified explosive device went off near the car of the leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's republic in Luhansk early morning Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (AP Photo, file) (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – Rebels in Ukraine's separatist region of Luhansk say their leader has been wounded in a car bombing.

The rebel-run Luhansk Information Center says an unidentified explosive device went off near the car of the leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's republic in Luhansk early Saturday morning. The report quoted rebel official Sergei Kozlov as saying that Igor Plotnitsky has been taken to hospital and is now in a stable condition.

Fighting between Russia-backed rebels and government forces has been raging since April 2014, leaving more than 9,500 dead and displacing over a million.

Luhansk was heavily shelled in the summer of 2014 but the front line has since moved dozens of kilometers (miles) away, and the rebels are in full control of the city and its suburbs.