Turkey shoots down aircraft 'after three warnings'
Iran Press TV
Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:39AM
The Turkish military says it has shot down aircraft, of an unidentified nationality, in its airspace after warning it three times.
The Turkish military said in a statement on Friday that that the aircraft was shot down by Turkish fighter jets near the Syrian border.
"The aircraft, whose nationality could not be established, was downed by patrolling Turkish jets in accordance with engagement rules after it failed to heed three warnings," the Turkish General Staff said in a statement issued on its website, Anadolu agency reported.
While the military statement did not elaborate on the type of the downed aircraft, a Reuters report cited an unnamed senior Turkish official as saying that it was a drone.
Reports also said that the drone was downed around three kilometers inside Turkish airspace near the Syrian border.
Not Russian
Meanwhile, Ria Novosti has cited the Russian Defense Ministry as announcing that all Russian military planes in Syria have safely returned to their bases, and that all drones are operating as planned.
Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the ministry, said Moscow's drones in Syria were "working as normal," while all of its planes are back in the Hmeimim base after completing their missions.
"All the Russian planes in Syria have returned to the Hmeimim air base after completing their tasks. Russian unmanned aerial vehicles monitoring the situation on the territory of Syria and carrying out air reconnaissance are working as normal," said the official.
Earlier in the month, Turkey said Russian aircraft had violated its airspace twice over the space of three days. Following the first incident, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said the jet had accidentally entered Turkish airspace while returning to its base "for several seconds" due to weather conditions.
The Russian embassy in Ankara has said Moscow is looking into the allegation of the second airspace violation.
Russia started launching airstrikes against militant positions in Syria upon a request by Damascus on September 30.
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