ISIS Fighters Shoot Down Syrian Warplane In Deir Al-Zor, Pilot Killed: Report

The Islamic State group claimed that its fighters shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, the ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq said Sunday. The news comes as the United States halted its coalition airstrike against the militant group after it accidentally hit the Syrian military.

"A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement, according to Reuters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict, said that the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed.

The plane was reportedly downed in the Jebel Tharda area, close to the government's Deir al-Zor military airport. The area is the same where U.S.-led coalition airstrikes Saturday reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers. A Russian Defense Ministry official reportedly said that Syria informed them that 62 of its soldiers were killed in the airstrike.

The U.S.-led coalition's actions have been criticized by Russia, escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington and endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire.

"The United States has relayed our regret through the Russian Federation for the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces," an official of the Obama administration said in a statement.

Several ISIS-controlled areas have been bombed by coalition forces over the last few days, the Observatory and Syrian state media said.