Explosion kills 6 Turkistan’s mercenaries amid flight of Russian warplanes

A loud explosion was heard in the village of Al-Tayebat, located near the Ghassaniyeh area in the western Jisr al-Shughour countryside, as a result of the explosion of an ammunition depot belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The observatory did not specify the causes of the explosion, which occurred in conjunction with the flight of Russian warplanes into the airspace of the region.

The observatory confirmed the killing of 6 mercenaries from Turkistan and the mercenary groups of Turkey, in addition to that, a number of wounded, which suggests a high death toll has fallen.

The director of the observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that the six dead belonged to the Turkistan Islamic Party or were fighting on its side, noting that the explosion occurred in an ammunition depot in the Jisr al-Shughour area in the southwestern countryside of Idlib.

He added: "We do not know if it was the result of an aerial bombardment (...), but it took place in conjunction with the flight of Russian warplanes over the region."

The Turkistan Islamic Party faction has been active in the Jisr al-Shughur region, and has been fighting for years for the Tahrir al-Sham mercenaries (formerly al-Nusra), which controls nearly half of the Idlib governorate.