Mortar fire kills 2 Russian soldiers in Syria

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Two Russian soldiers have been killed and another injured in Syria by mortar fire, Russian news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.

Citing the Russian Defense Ministry, TASS reported the slain soldiers had been providing combat training to Syrian troops.

The news agency did not provide any details as to where or when exactly the incident occurred, but blamed the attack on “militants”.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since 2011, more than 250,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in the Syrian civil war, according to UN figures.