Turkey says it has shot down a Russian-made warplane on the Syrian border for violating Turkish airspace.
Two Turkish officials told Al Jazeera the plane was shot down on Tuesday by the Turkish military according to the rules of engagement.
Reports said the plane crashed in Syrian territory in Latakia’s Yamadi village.
The Turkish president’s office identified the warplane as Russian-made and said it was warned before being shot down, according to the semi-official Anadolu agency.
The Russian defence ministry acknowledged that an Su-24 fighter jet crashed in Syria as a result of fire from the ground.
The ministry was quoted by TASS Russian News Agency as saying: “A probe is in progress into the circumstances of the Russian plane crash.”
It said the plane had stayed within Syrian airspace and that “objective monitoring data confirm this”.
A Turkish military statement said the plane violated Turkish airspace in Hatay province and was warned “10 times in five minutes”.
“Our two F-16 planes on air patrol duty intervened in the plane in question on November 24, 2015, 9:24am, according to the rules of engagement,” the statement said.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman called the downing of the warplane a “very serious incident”, but said it was too early to draw conclusions.
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