One of the pilots of the Russian jet that was shot down by Turkey was rescued and is back at his base, Russia's defence minister has said.

Sergei Shoigu said the flight engineer was extracted after a 12 hour mission by special forces on the ground in Syria.

He said: "The operation was successful. The engineer was delivered to our airbase, he is alive and well. I wanted to thank all our boys, who were working all night with great risk. At 03.40 am they completed their work."

Vladimir Putin added later that a second pilot was also rescued. It was unclear who this pilot was.

The Russian ambassador to France claimed the second airman in the shot down Su-24 - presumed to be the pilot - was wounded as he parachuted down and killed on the ground by "jihadists in the area".

Russian President Vladmir Putin said the engineer and the dead pilot would be given state awards.

A US official who spoke to Reuters claimed overnight that the Russian jet's heat signature showed it was hit inside Syrian airspace when it was shot down after briefly entering Turkish airspace - agreeing with Russia's analysis.

But Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated Turkey's claim that the jet was in Turkish airspace at the time it was hit in direct contradiction of the US analysis.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov as the row over whether the jet was shot in Turkey or Syria went on. Turkey said they agreed to meet but Russia denied this.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey has a "right and duty" to defend its aerial borders if they are violated.

Russia, meanwhile, carried out 12 airstrikes in Syria close to the Turkish border, bombarding rebel forces in the area including Turkmen militants, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Turkey's leadership of deliberately supporting Islamification in its country and PM Dimitri Medvedev accused Turkey of allowing the "protection" of IS militants by its actions.

Russia said it was sending its S-400 missile system to Syria to defend its airbase.

Mr Lavrov said while Russia did not intend to wage a war against Turkey, it viewed the downing as a planned act and Moscow would "seriously reconsider" its relations with Ankara.

But, while speaking to reporters, the Russian ambassador to France said earlier that Russia would be prepared to "create a joint staff" to fight the Islamic State in which Moscow would work with France, the United States and even Turkey.

The downing of the jet is the first time a NATO member's armed forces have shot down a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s.