Russian Su-34 aircraft dropped a massive ordnance bomb to destroy an underground ammunition depot in Syria where the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group had stored weapons and ammunition including tube and missile artillery.
"The Russian Aerospace Force has destroyed the largest underground arsenal of Jabhat al-Nusra near the community of Abu al-Duhur where terrorists stored more than 1,000 tonnes of ammunition for tube and missile artillery," Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday in a briefing to Russian media as reported by Tass.
Russian reconnaissance has been long studying how militants transport munitions to their strongholds and opposition areas, he said. "Having analyzed much information received through various channels, the area where the arsenal was most probably located was determined and its exact coordinates confirmed after supplemental ground reconnaissance," the spokesman explained.
According to the ministry spokesman, "the munitions depot was destroyed by special air-delivered massive ordnance designed to destroy underground facilities. The fire sparked by detonated munitions lasted a few hours up to their complete burning," he said.
Yesterday, a meeting of Jabhat al-Nusra commanders was bombed in which its leader, Abu Muhammad al-Julani was injured and 49 others died. “Al Julani has since sunk into a coma," the spokesman said Thursday citing information from Syrian sources.
"The Russian military intelligence has received information about the emergency meeting of the Al-Nusra’s ‘eastern sector’ field commanders in the Idlib province. After the confirmation of this information through various channels, the command of the Russian force grouping in Syria decided to conduct an airstrike. A precision strike carried out by a Su-34 bomber has eliminated 49 gunmen, including seven leaders of militant units of al-Nusra’s eastern sector," the ministry said.