(Bloomberg) --
At least three Russian soldiers and an unspecified number of Turkish troops were injured when a makeshift explosive device detonated near a joint patrol in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Tuesday.
The troops were in armored personal carriers traveling along the M-4 highway when the explosion happened, according to a Defense Ministry statement, which said three Russian soldiers received light injuries. They were treated at Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria and their injuries are not life-threatening, it said.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the incident.
Russia and Turkey were conducting their 20th joint patrol in the so-called de-escalation zone in Idlib, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a March 5 truce accord following weeks of fierce clashes over Idlib, the last rebel stronghold, between Syrian government troops backed by Moscow and opposition forces supported by Turkey.
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