Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border after it violated Turkish airspace on Tuesday, U.S. defense officials told NBC News.
"They were in Turkish airspace only 2 to 3 seconds, a matter of seconds" before the Turkish F-16s struck it, the officials said.
Russian warplanes had been targeting Turkomen forces inside Syria for the "past couple days," they said. Those attacks "got the attention of the Turkish government and military," a senior defense official told NBC News. That official stopped short of saying the Turks shot down the Russian plane as payback for attacking their allies inside Syria.
The Turkish Air Force said they warned the Russian aircraft 10 times before their jets opened fire.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the incident a "stab in the back delivered by terrorists’ helpers," accusing Turkey of aiding ISIS by buying their oil.
