Syria shot down a Turkish warplane in the eastern Mediterranean yesterday, Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan’s office said in a statement.
“As a result of information obtained from the evaluation of our concerned institutions and from within the joint search and rescue operations with Syria, it is understood that our plane was brought down by Syria,” Mr Erdogan’s office said.
The Syrian military admitted shooting down the aircraft, but said it was “over Syrian territorial waters”. “Our air defences confronted a target that penetrated our air space over our territorial waters pre-afternoon on Friday and shot it down. It turned out to be a Turkish military plane,” a statement by the military said.
Turkey said that search and rescue operations were continuing for the missing pilots. – (Reuters)