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Militant shelling kills two Russian servicemen in Syria

Russian army soldiers are seen with their vehicles at their military camp, known as the International Demining Center, in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on May 5, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The Russian Defense Ministry says two of its servicemen have been killed and another sustained severe injuries after foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants launched a mortar attack.

The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that those killed were serving as military instructors within a unit of the Syrian government forces, noting that “military medics are struggling for the life of a wounded Russian soldier.”

The statement, however, did not provide any further information about the exact place and date of the attack, nor the identities of the slain servicemen.

Russia has been offering military assistance to the Syrian government since September 2015.

The military assistance, in the form of an aerial campaign and advisory support, came upon a request from the government in Damascus, which has been fighting a foreign-backed militancy in the country since 2011.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on March 6 that one of its servicemen had been killed after members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group mounted an offensive against positions of Syrian government forces in the central province of Homs.

The ministry said in a statement that Private Artyom Gorbunov was killed in action near the ancient Semitic city of Palmyra, located about 215 kilometers northeast of the capital, Damascus, four days earlier.

The statement added that the 24-year-old “was guarding a group of Russian military advisers in the Syrian Arab Republic” at the time.

On February 20, Russia’s Defense Ministry said four Russian soldiers had been killed and two others sustained injuries earlier that month, when their military vehicle was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED) en route from Tiyas military airbase, also known as the T-4 airbase, to the city of Homs.


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