Turkey’s military have shot down a Russian fighter jet near its border with Syria after the jet supposedly Turkish airspace.
The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighter planes.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence claims the jet was in Syrian airspace, and was shot down from the ground.
Footage reportedly filmed by rebels in Syria’s Turkomen Mountains shows local fighters cheer as they discover the body of one of the Russian pilots.
The video, posted on Twitter by a man believed to be a Syrian-Turkmen rebel soldier, shows at least a dozen men surrounding the corpse of the pilot, dressed in Russian military fatigues, and some are heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – ‘God is great’.
Local rebels said the pilot, who can be seen covered in bruises and burns in the video, was already deceased when he landed, and that none of the Russian pilots had been killed by Syrian fighters.
The Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu has said it isTurkey’s right to respond if Turkish airspace is violated.
The Turkish army said the pilots of the Russian jet had been warned ‘ten times in the space of five minutes’ before the plane was shot down.
Both pilots ejected themselves from the jet and could be seen parachuting down to the ground, where one has been reported dead and the other captured by Syrian Turkmen rebels.
Source: Russian warplane shot down in Syria by ReutersNews on Rumble