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After Syrian rebels downed a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet in Idlib province on Saturday, its pilot is reported to have killed himself with a grenade rather than fall into the hands of the enemy.

“This is for our guys!” Russian news outlets reported the pilot as saying, before he took his own life as rebels closed in.

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Russia’s Defence Ministry on Monday said Maj. Roman Filipov, “ejected and landed near Tell Debes held by the terrorists.”

“He kept firing his service-issue weapon at militants until he died,” the statement said, adding that when the militants continued to advance, he “blew himself up with a grenade.”

U.K. news outlet the Daily Mail reported that upon landing, Filipov made radio contact with a Russian airbase in Syria, relaying that he had shot and killed two jihadis with his handgun. He is then reported to have pulled his grenade pin, killing more rebels — and himself — when he did so.

Filipov has been awarded the Hero of Russia medal for his actions, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

The militants downed the Russian plane using a man-portable air-defence system, or MANPADS, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry. It was a rare instance of rebel fighters successfully bringing down either Russian or Syrian aircraft.

We are extremely worried that terrorists have man-portable antiaircraft missile systems in their possession

“We are extremely worried that terrorists have man-portable antiaircraft missile systems in their possession,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in a briefing with journalists in Moscow on Monday. Russia often refers to groups opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as terrorists.