Russian Warplane Shot Down By Turkey Near Syrian Border For Alleged Airspace Violation

UPDATE: 3:54 a.m. EST -- The Russian Defense Ministry said that the plane that was shot down by Turkey over the Syrian border was a Russian Su-24 jet flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

"Su-24 of the Russian aviation group has crashed in the Syrian Arab Republic after alleged fire from the ground," the Russian defense ministry reportedly said Tuesday. The statement added that the plane, which was flying at an altitude of 19, 600 feet "stayed strictly within Syrian airspace," and that its pilots were able to eject the aircraft.

"The fate of the pilots is being determined...The circumstances of the plane's crash are under investigation," the statement said.

While Turkey insisted that it warned the Russian plane several times before shooting it down, Russian authorities said that the plane -- which was on a bombing mission in Syria -- had not violated the Turkish airspace, the Associated Press reported.

Turkey's Anadolu news agency tweeted an image of the plane saying it was shot down because the plane violated Turkish airspace. The agency added on Twitter that the Russian plane received 10 warnings in five minutes and that it was challenged by two F-16 jets.

Original Story:

Turkish F-16 fighter jets shot down a warplane Tuesday near the Syrian border, because it violated Turkish air space and ignored warnings, Reuters reported citing a Turkish military official.

In a video shared on Twitter by Haberturk TV, a Turkish news network, the warplane was seen crashing on Turkmen Mountain in the north of Syria's Latakia region.

Haberturk said that it was not clear to which country the warplane belonged. Reuters reported, citing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office, that he had spoken to the chief of staff and the foreign minister about the developments on the border but that the officials had not mentioned the warplane.

Haberturk also said, in a tweet, that the plane's pilots jumped out using parachutes.