Helpless Russian pilots ‘were shot dead as they parachuted to the ground’: Furious Putin accuses Turkey of ‘treachery’ after it downs jet over Syrian rebel territory

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Turkish army has shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 war plane near its Syrian border, officials confirmed
Syrian border rebels claimed to have shot dead the pilots as they parachuted from the destroyed aircraft
Vladimir Putin called Turkey’s decision to shoot down plane ‘a stab in the back by accomplices of terrorists’
Sir Michael Graydon, former head of the RAF, warns incident has caused ‘monstrous diplomatic problem’

Two Russian pilots were shot dead by Syrian rebels as they parachuted from their burning warplane, it has been claimed.

And a third was killed during a mission to rescue the pair as another rebel group shot a helicopter with an anti-tank missile.

Disturbing footage shows a dead pilot covered in blood, on the ground as anti-government fighters gather chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is great’.

Another video appeared to show forces shooting at the pilots with machine guns after they had ejected from the Sukhoi Su-24, which had been blasted by two Turkish F-16 jets for violating the country’s airspace. Gunfire can be heard as one of the rebels cries: ‘Don’t shoot, let’s capture them as hostages.’

Claims the jet breached Turkish airspace have now been refuted by a furious Vladimir Putin – who has accused Turkey of funding ISIS and using its military to protect the terrorist organisation. He called it a ‘stab in the back’ committed by ‘accomplices of terrorists’.

Meanwhile Sir Michael Graydon, former head of the RAF, warned: ‘It horrifies me that the Russians were stupid enough to fly either that close to the border or violate the border.

‘But of all the tensions in that part of the world was it absolutely necessary to shoot the aircraft down? One aircraft was not going to change the course of history and now it probably will. Shooting down the aircraft has caused a monstrous diplomatic problem.’

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Source: Sara Malm and Sam Tonkin In London and Will Stewart In Moscow, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/