The leader of rebels in Ukraine's separatist region of Luhansk has been injured in a car bombing.

An unidentified explosive device went off near the car of Igor Plotnitsky, the leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's republic in Luhansk, early on Saturday morning.

The rebel-run Luhansk Information Centre quoted rebel official Sergei Kozlov as saying Mr 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 people dead and displacing a million more.

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