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TOKYO — South Korea said its fighter jets fired hundreds of warning shots at a Russian military aircraft that twice entered its airspace over a group of small islands off its east coast on Tuesday.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said its jets scrambled after a Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft violated its airspace over the islands, which are controlled by South Korea but claimed by Japan.

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The fighters fired 80 warning shots the first time, and a further 280 shots when the aircraft returned a few minutes later. Seoul said it was the first time a Russian military plane had violated its airspace, and experts said the incident complicated simmering regional tensions.

Earlier, two Russian bombers and two Chinese bombers had entered South Korea’s self-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ), Seoul said.

Then the Russian A-50 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) flew close to the islands known in South Korea as Dokdo, and in Japan as Takeshima, first entering airspace over the islands at 9:09 a.m. local time and then again at 9:33 a.m., staying for a total of seven minutes.