Russia says its planes struck 10 ISIL targets in Syria

MOSCOW - Reuters

In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, an aerial view of a bomb explosion in Syria. AP Photo

Russian planes have flown 20 sorties in Syria and struck 10 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in the past 24 hours, the country's defence ministry said in a statement on Oct.4.

Russia has said it would step up its air strikes in Syria, escalating a military intervention which Moscow launched on Wednesday to weaken ISIL militants, but which Western powers say aims to support President Bashar al-Assad. 

"As a result of our air strikes on Islamic State [ISIL] targets, we have managed to disrupt their control system, the terrorist organisation's supply lines, and also caused significant damage to the infrastructure used to prepare acts of terror," the ministry said. 

It said the strikes, conducted by SU-34, SU-24M and SU-25 planes, had hit targets in the Idlib and Raqqa provinces, including a terrorist training camp and a suicide belt factory. 

The strikes, which it called pinpoint, had also destroyed three ammunition stores and four ISIL command centres, the ministry said.