Roadside bomb detonated on Russian patrol route in Syria
A bomb was detonated on the way of a Russian patrol, several soldiers were wounded, reported the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, as quoted by RBC news agency.
The patrol was carried out jointly with the Turkish military. The explosion occurred on the morning of July 14, at 8:20 Moscow time. The convoy was on the M-4 highway near the town of Ariha, in the southern part of the Idlib de-escalation zone.
A Russian armored personnel carrier was damaged in the explosion. The armored vehicle of the Turkish army was also damaged in the explosion, and its crew was wounded.
"Three Russian servicemen have minor injuries. There are wounded among the crew of the Turkish armored vehicle. All the victims were promptly evacuated from the area," the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said.
This is the second attack on the Russian and Turkish military in the last month in the area. On June 16, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported about the attack on a Russian military patrol on the M-4 highway near the town of Ariha. Then, a bomb was denotated on the patrol’s route. The Russian armored personnel carrier "received minor damage" and the patrol personnel were not injured, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
On May 27, militants detonated a bomb near a Turkish armored vehicle on the M-4 highway, killing one Turkish soldier. The Russian military said militants of the al-Islamad-Turkestani group were behind the blast.
At the meeting in Moscow on March 5, Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on joint patrols along the M-4 highway, which links the cities of Latakia and Aleppo. The two countries' military was to follow the route from the village of Trunba to the town of Ain al-Hawra. At the talks, the presidents also agreed to establish a security corridor, 6 km to the north and 6 km south of the M-4 highway.