Syrian fighter jet shot down by Turkey

Turkey's air force has shot down a Syrian aircraft for violating Turkish airspace, an action that Syria denounced as "unprecedented and unjustifiable".

The incident reportedly occurred in an area where Syrian rebels and government forces have been fighting for control of a border crossing.

Turkey and Syria - once allies - share more than 800km of border.

The incident happened on Sunday, with the plane crashing near the Syrian town of Kasab on the Turkish border after it was targeted by F-16s.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised the Turkish military for the action. 

During an election rally in the northwest of Turkey, Erdogan said: "A Syrian plane violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.

"I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots... I congratulate our air forces," he told supporters.

The Syrian state news agency SANA reported the Foreign Ministry as protesting against Turkish "interference" in the province of Latakia, which has witnessed heavy fighting in recent days.

In a statement the ministry said Turkey's "flagrant aggression against Syrian sovereignty in the Kasab border region over the past two days proves its implication in the events in Syria".

The Latakia province includes President Bashar al-Assad's family village of Qardaha.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based anti-Assad monitoring group, said the plane had been striking areas in Latakia in pursuit of rebels trying to gain control of a border post.

In September last year, Turkey said it had shot down a Syrian helicopter close to its border. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the aircraft was engaged by fighter jets after violating Turkish air space.

A Turkish fighter jet was shot down by Syria over the Mediterranean in June 2012, after Syrian forces said it had entered its airspace.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Syria for Turkey to escape the three-year uprising against President Assad.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began.

According to UN figures, 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced by the civil war, and 2.5 million are registered as refugees. Lebanon has taken the highest number of refugees, followed by Jordan and Turkey.