The Russian Aerospace Forces’ Mil Mi-8 Hip transport helicopter was downed in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib on Monday with three crew members and two reconciliation center officers aboard.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy told reporters that the helicopter was shot down from the ground over the area under the control of the Jabhat Fatah al Sham, previously known as al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia.

Rudskoy confirmed the deaths of all five people on board the helicopter, classifying its downing as a terrorist attack.

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