Turkish fighter jets have shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, with conflicting claims over whether the downed aircraft violated Turkish airspace.

Key points: Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet

Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet Two Russian pilots were reportedly killed

Two Russian pilots were reportedly killed Russia, Turkey contest whose airspace the plane was flying in when shot

Russia, Turkey contest whose airspace the plane was flying in when shot NATO backs Turkey in emergency meeting

NATO backs Turkey in emergency meeting Syrian rebels shoot down Russian helicopter

The two pilots ejected by parachute before the jet exploded and crashed into a ball of flames in northern Syria.

Both pilots were shot dead as they descended, according to a commander with a Turkmen brigade which fights against the Syrian Armed Forces. Turkmen are Syrians of Turkish descent.

Turkey's military said two Turkish F-16s were involved in shooting down the plane, after issuing 10 warnings in five minutes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a Russian helicopter had also been hit in Syria following the downing of the fighter jet, an attack that was claimed by a Syrian rebel group.

The Russian helicopter made an emergency landing, but was subsequently blown up by rebels in government-held territory.

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Moscow said a Russian soldier was killed when the helicopter search-and-rescue operation came under fire.

Analysis by North America correspondent Ben Knight: From the moment Russia waded into the Syrian civil war, there were fears it would only make things worse. Immediately after Russian planes began attacking targets in Syria - sharing the skies with US fighters - the Pentagon scrambled to contact the Russians to talk about how to avoid any unintended contact escalating. As it turns out, when it did go wrong, it was not a US fighter that was involved - but America's NATO ally, Turkey. The Turkish action appears hasty and ill-judged. If the Russian fighter did enter Turkish air space, it appears it did not enter very far, nor for very long. And the two countries are sharply divided over Syria. Turkey wants Bashar al Assad gone, while Russia's military intervention is about protecting the Syrian president. But the US and NATO are strongly backing their ally Turkey. In fact, Barack Obama gave the Russian president an "I told you so" - saying that if Russia concentrated on attacking Islamic State, rather than the rebels fighting Bashar al Assad, then mistakes are less likely to occur. The most serious impact of this incident is likely to be on the chance of bringing Russia into the coalition against Islamic State - something that appeared possible after the bombing of the Russian airliner in the Sinai. But now, Vladimir Putin is in a standoff with NATO - the old enemy of the Soviet Union - and he is a man with a reputation for acting rashly, and playing to his domestic audience on restoring Russia's pride, and place in the world.

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that while Turkey made all efforts to avoid the incident, its right to defend itself must be respected.

Turkey's interior ministry has released a radar picture showing the alleged initial violation of the Russian warplane.

But Russia's defence ministry said it could prove that the plane, a Sukhoi Su-24, had not violated Turkish airspace.

"The plane was at an altitude of 6,000 metres. Throughout its flight the plane remained exclusively over Syrian territory," the defence ministry said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin called the incident a "stab in the back" and warned it would have "serious consequences" for ties between the two key protagonists in the Syria war.

Russian military helicopters launched searches for the pilots, but a deputy commander of a Turkmen brigade told reporters both were dead.

"Both of the pilots were retrieved dead. Our comrades opened fire into the air and they died in the air," Alpaslan Celik, a deputy commander in a Syrian Turkmen brigade said near the Syrian village of Yamadi as he held what he said was a piece of a pilot's parachute.

US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren has said that it was not yet clear which side the plane was on when shot.

However, the colonel confirmed that Turkey warned the Russian jet 10 times before shooting it down, but failed to get a response.

"I can confirm that, yes," he said.

"We were able to hear everything that was going on, these [communications] were on open channels," he said.

A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that preliminary reports showed the Russian jet entered the airspace for a matter of seconds.

A radar picture released by the Turkish Interior Ministry shows activities of the downed Russian warplane (in red) near the Turkey-Syria border. ( Reuters: Turkish Interior Ministry )

Several videos circulating online and shared on opposition social media sites purported to show one of the dead pilots surrounded by rebels from different factions.

Sorry, this video has expired CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT: Syrian rebel group releases video they claim is of Russian pilot

In them, a man can been seen in military uniform with straps across his chest and blood on his face.

Rebels refer to the man as a "Russian pilot" and "Russian pig", but the location of the footage was not specified and it was impossible to verify the videos.

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Fadi Ahmed, a spokesman for the First Coastal Front rebel group, earlier said a "Russian pilot was killed by gunfire as he fell with his parachute" in the Jabal Turkman area of Latakia province.

"The 10th Brigade [rebel group] transferred the body of the dead Russian to the local rebel joint operations room," added Omar Jablawi, a media activist working with rebels in the area.

He declined to specify exactly where the joint operations room was located.

Footage from private broadcaster Haberturk TV showed a warplane going down in flames in a woodland area, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it.

The plane went down in area known by Turks as Turkmen Mountain, in northern Syria near the Turkish border, Haberturk said.

Putin condemns 'stab in back', NATO stands by Turkey

The incident is the first time a Russian military plane has been downed since Moscow began a bombing campaign on September 30 at the request of its long-standing ally Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting a multi-faceted insurgency involving Islamic State (IS) militants and other groups.

Russia summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow while Ankara summoned Moscow's charge d'affaires to the foreign ministry.

Mr Putin insisted the plane posed no threat to Turkey.

Moscow said that the downed jet was a Sukhoi Su-24. ( AFP: Sergey Venyavsky, file photo )

"Our plane was shot down over the territory of Syria by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet," Mr Putin said in televised comments.

"It fell in Syrian territory four kilometres from the border with Turkey. Our pilots and our plane did not in any way threaten Turkey.

"Today's tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations," he added, calling the incident a "stab in the back" carried out by accomplices of terrorists.

Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey had a duty to act against anyone violating its borders.

"Everyone must know that it is our international right and national duty to take any measure against whoever violates our air or land borders," Mr Davutoglu said.

Sorry, this video has expired Turkish journalist Suna Vidinli discusses the incident.

US president Barack Obama said NATO member Turkey had a right to defend its own airspace.

"Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its airspace," Mr Obama said at the White House during an appearance with French president Francois Hollande.

Both Mr Hollande and Mr Obama warned against any escalation after the Russian jet downing, amid concern that the air clash could dramatically escalate tensions in the volatile region.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg offered support for Ankara following an emergency meeting held in Brussels after the incident.

Mr Stoltenberg rejected any suggestion that the incident happened outside of Turkey's borders.

"The allied assessments that we have are consistent with the information we have from Turkey," he said.

"We stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO ally."

However, Mr Stoltenberg also reiterated NATO's call for de-escalation between Russia and Turkey.

"I look forward to further contacts between Ankara and Moscow and call for calm and de-escalation. Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation," he said.

A Syrian military source said the incident was being investigated, but that it "demonstrates without a doubt that the Turkish government takes the side of terrorism."

Suna Vidinli, a journalist in Istanbul, said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had cancelled a planned meeting on Wednesday (local time) with his Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu.

"Mr Lavrov was expected to visit Turkey. We confirm now he cancelled that visit," she told the ABC.

Moscow's intervention in Syria has strained its relations with Turkey — a fierce opponent of Mr Assad — with Ankara summoning Russia's ambassador last week after Moscow's warplanes bombed Syrian territory "very close" to the Turkish border.

Turkish authorities have already summoned the Russian ambassador several times since Moscow launched its Syria campaign over alleged air space violations.

Ankara has also warned Moscow against supplying arms and support for Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the IS group in Syria.

Turkey, a member of NATO, also called this week for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighbouring Syria, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the bombing of their villages.

Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with Syrian Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent.

Map Map showing approximate location of shot-down Russian jet

ABC/wires