Turkish MoD Claims Russia Knew Turkish Army's Coordinates in Al-Bab Strike Area

Sputnik News

18:28 10.02.2017(updated 18:31 10.02.2017)

The Turkish General Staff claimed that Russian military had been warned in advance of the presence of Turkish servicemen in the area targeted by the Russian jets in Syria's al-Bab.

ANKARA (Sputnik) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that wrong coordinates of Turkish army's locations provided to Russia resulted in a deadly Russian airstrike on Turkish army's positions in al-Bab.

"We must clarify the situation in connection with a statement by Dmitry Peskov in order to avoid any misinterpretation," the statement said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that poor coordination was the reason for an unintentional Russian airstrike killing Turkish soldiers near Syria's al-Bab, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

According to the Turkish General Staff's statement, the Turkish soldiers were at the same location at the time of the strike as the day before (on February 8) when the Turkish side informed the Russian side of the precise coordinates following an accidental rocket strike from friendly positions in the Russian zone of responsibility.

"We immediately relayed the coordinates to officials at the Hmeymim center…while the Russian military attache in Ankara was summoned to the General Staff HQ and given the precise coordinates again," the statement said.

On Thursday, the Kremlin spokesman confirmed to Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over an accidental Russian airstrike that had killed Turkish soldiers in Syria. Peskov said that Russia and Turkey will jointly investigate the deadly incident.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian bombers had been on a mission to destroy Daesh terrorists' positions near al-Bab, where Turkish soldiers had been accidentally bombed.

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