Turkey shoots down Russian war plane
It’s ‘very serious incident’: Kremlin
AFP
NATO member Turkey on Tuesday shot down a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border, threatening a major spike in tensions between two key protagonists in the four-year Syria civil war, reports AFP from Ankara.
The Turkish presidency said in a statement that the plane was a Russian Su-24 fighter jet, while Turkish media said one pilot had been captured by rebel forces in Syria. Moscow confirmed that one of its planes had been shot down, but said the pilots fate remained unclear.
The Turkish army said that the plane had violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five minute period and was shot down by two Turkish F-16s. However Russia insisted that the plane was inside Syrian airspace.
A Russian Su-24 plane was downed under the rules of engagement because it violated the Turkish airspace despite the warnings, the Turkish presidency said.
Reports said two pilots had ejected from the plane and Turkish television pictures showed two white parachutes descending to the ground.
The CNN-Turk channel said Syrian Turkmen forces fighting the Russian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad captured one pilot.
Russia meanwhile confirmed that one of its planes had been shot down.
Presumably as a result of firing, an Su-24 plane of the Russian forces crashed in the Syrian Arab Republic, Russian news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying.
