Turkish jets shot down Russian warplane

It fell on the Syrian territory 4km from Turkey.

The video was sent to Reuters by a rebel group operating in the northwestern area of Syria.

A statement from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said the Turkish leader spoke with Turkey’s military chief and foreign ministry about the incident.

It said: “We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet”.

“Presumably as a result of firing from the ground, an Su-24 plane of the Russian forces crashed in the Syrian Arab Republic”, Russian news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying.

“And instead of immediately establishing the necessary contact with us, as far as I’m aware of, the Turkish side contacted its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies instead, to discuss this incident… as if we downed a Turkish jet”.

He stressed that the plane and pilots posed no threat to Turkey as they were carrying out a mission against ISIS in mountainous areas targeting terrorists, most of whom came from Russian Federation.

The Russian president called the Turkish downing of a Russian jet fighter a stab in the back and accused Turkey of complicity with Islamic State group.

“In line with the military rules of engagement, the Turkish authorities repeatedly warned an unidentified aircraft that they were [10 miles] or less away from the border”, said a Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue.

They reportedly complained to the Russians that Turkmen civilians live close to the border between Turkey and Syria where Russian planes have been bombing.

Defense analysts say Russian Federation seems to be responding cautiously to the downing of one of its warplanes on the Turkey-Syria border.

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border on Tuesday but the United States is still reviewing data to determine precisely where the incident took place, U.S.-led coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

Russian aircraft have flown thousands of sorties in support of Syrian Army operations and against some Islamic State targets since starting operations at the end of September.

“Relations have been very strained between Russian Federation and Turkey of late so Moscow will be trying its utmost to contain the damage this might cause”, she said.

Both pilots ejected from the plane, but their fate is unknown, Sputnik reported.

Russian Federation summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow while Ankara summoned Moscow’s charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry.

It’s not clear how much Turkey can do in response to the purported violation of its airspace.