By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor
Turkey’s military say they have today shot down a Russian war plane near its border with Syria after the jet violated Turkish air space. It is claimed the Russian jet failed to listen to numerous warnings over a five minute period.
The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighter planes after ignoring nearly a dozen warnings, Turkish army officials said.
However, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claims the jet was in Syrian airspace, and was shot down from the ground, and deny the plane left Syrian airspace, but Turkish military have released a map showing the trajectory of the plane. Footage reportedly filmed by rebels in Syria’s Turkomen Mountains, an area which has been the cause of recent tensions between Turkey and Russia, shows local fighters cheer as they discover the body of one of the Russian pilots.
One pilot it thought to be dead and the other has supposedly been seized by Turkmen – ethnic Turks who have been subjected to Russian airstrikes this week.
Two pieces of video footage can be seen (below)