A Russian military helicopter has been shot down in Syria, killing three crew and two officers.

The Mi-8 transport helicopter was returning to Hmeimim base in Idlib province after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo when it came under attack from the ground on Monday, the Russian ministry said.

All five people in the aircraft were killed, according to the Kremlin.

Images shared on social media apparently showed a dead body stripped of clothes and Russian identity documents taken from the helicopter, Reuters reported.

Image: All five people on the helicopter died

The aircraft appeared to have broken up as it crashed to the ground.


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the helicopter had tried to veer away from populated areas to avoid civilian casualties and said the service personnel died a "heroic death".

He added that Moscow would continue to fight international terrorism "on all fronts", despite threats from Islamic State.

Rebel groups are staging an offensive to break a government siege on rebel-held parts of Aleppo around 25 miles from the reported crash site.

Pro-Syrian government forces on the ground are being supported by heavy airstrikes in the same area.

Image: The aircraft was apparently returning from a humanitarian mission

On Sunday, IS posted a nine-minute video on YouTube calling on its members to carry out jihad in Russia.

In July, two Russian airmen were killed in Homs province when their Mi-25 helicopter was shot down. The Russian defence ministry said IS was behind that attack.

An Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed near Homs in April, killing both crew members. The Russian military said there was no evidence it had come under fire.

Some 18 Russian service personnel have been killed since Moscow began airstrikes in Syria in September last year.