Turkey F16s down Russian warplane

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border yesterday, saying the jet had repeatedly violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a Nato member country and Russia for half a century.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1 km inside Syria and warned of "serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".

"We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today," Putin said, as Russian and Turkish shares fell on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies.

US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande, meeting in Washington, urged against an escalation, while Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance stood in solidarity with Turkey.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also appealed to Turkey and Russia to reduce tensions.

European Union President Donald Tusk termed the incident as "dangerous moment", and urged all to remain cool headed.

The Turkish army said the plane was shot down by two of its F-16s after it violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period, an assertion backed up by its Nato ally the United States.

Moscow insisted that the jet had stayed inside Syrian territory, and Damascus denounced the incident as "flagrant aggression against Syrian sovereignty".

Each country summoned a diplomatic representative of the other and Nato called a meeting of its ambassadors for yesterday afternoon. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled a visit to Turkey due today and the defence ministry said it was preparing measures to respond to such incidents.

Footage from private Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV showed the warplane going down in flames, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it as it crashed in a wooded part of an area the TV said was known by Turks as "Turkmen Mountain".

Separate footage from Turkey's Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed.

A deputy commander of rebel Turkmen forces in Syria said his men shot both pilots dead as they came down. The Russian military confirmed one pilot had been shot dead from the ground and another soldier died during a rescue operation.

A senior Turkish official said at least one of the pilots could still be alive. "It's not a fact but a possibility. We're trying to verify the information and taking all necessary steps to facilitate their return," the official said.

The Russian Defence Ministry has suspended military contact with Turkey over the incident and a Russian warship will be deployed to waters off Syria's western Latakia province, Russian news agencies reported.

In a letter to the 15-member UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Turkish UN Ambassador Halit Cevik said shot down the jet after it repeatedly violated its air space.

"Nobody should doubt that we made our best efforts to avoid this latest incident. But everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders," Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

A US military spokesman said it was an issue between the Turkish and Russian governments and that US-led coalition operations in Syria and Iraq were continuing "as planned".

In Washington, an official said the United States believed the incursion probably lasted only a matter of seconds before the jet was downed. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the incident was still being investigated.

Turkey and Russia have long been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking Assad's overthrow while Moscow does everything to keep him in power.

Russian fighter jets entered Turkish airspace in two separate incidents in October, prompting Ankara to summon the Russian ambassador twice in protest.

A US official said US forces were not involved in the downing of the Russian jet, which was the first time a Russian or Soviet military aircraft has been publicly acknowledged to have been shot down by a Nato member since the 1950s.

The incident appeared to scupper hopes of a rapprochement between Russia and the West in the wake of the Islamic State attacks in Paris, which led to calls for a united front against the radical jihadist group in Syria.

In a further sign of a growing fallout over Syria, Syrian rebel fighters who have received US arms said they fired at a Russian helicopter, forcing it to land in territory held by Moscow's Syrian government allies.

Turkey called this week for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages.

About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous area due to fighting in the last three days, a Turkish official said on Monday. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.