The Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed the crash of a Russian military Su-24 aircraft “as a result of an attack from the ground”.
The plane was at an altitude of 6,000 metres and the pilots’ fate has not yet been determined.
“A probe is in progress into the circumstances of the Russian plane’s crash. The Defense Ministry says the plane invariably stayed within Syrian airspace. Objective monitoring data confirm this,” Russian official agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying.
Turkey said the aircraft was shot down for violating Turkey’s airspace near its border with Syria. Turkish officials told the agency that the downed jet was “issued 10 warnings in five minutes and it was shot down by two F-16s”.
Russian airstrikes against “Islamic State” (IS) in Syria started on 30 September. Russia intensified its airstrikes against IS after the Russian federal security reported that the crash of the Russian A321 plane in Egypt was caused by a bomb that exploded on board.
