Russian Journalists and Servicemen Injured by Explosion in Syria

Russian television reporters and five Russian servicemen have been injured in an explosion by a remotely detonated bomb, planted by terrorists in a residential district of Deir ez-Zor.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Journalists of Russia's NTV and Zvezda broadcasters were injured in Syria on Monday and then were safely evacuated to Russia's Hmeimim airbase, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"On November 6, terrorists detonated a bomb in a residential quarter of Deir ez-Zor, where Russian media representatives were working. As a result of the explosion, four Russian journalists were injured — Ilya Ushenin (NTV), Timur Voronov (NTV), Konstantin Khudoleev (Zvezda) and Dmitry Starodubsky (Zvezda) — as well as five Russian servicemen from the international demining center, who were clearing the area of mines," the statement said.

According to the ministry, all of them received necessary medical assistance at the Hmeimim airbase. The injuries sustained were not life-threatening, the statement said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has wished a rapid recovery to the Russian journalists and servicemen, recently wounded in the explosion in Syria.

"Speedy recovery to the Russian servicemen, as well as to the NTV employees — Ilya Ushenin and Timur Voronov, [and] employees of the Zvezda TV channel — Konstantin Khudoleev and Dmitry Starodubsky," Zakharova wrote Tuesday on Facebook.

Russia's military medical aircraft "Scalpel" equipped with special modules in order to ensure the safe transportation of those injured, has taken correspondents of NTV TV channel Ilya Ushenin and Timur Voronov, journalists of the Zvezda TV channel Konstantin Khudoleev and Dmitry Starodubsky, along with the servicemen of the Russian Defense Ministry to the Chkalovsky Airport, located in the Moscow Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"According to the military medical personnel, who have accompanied the journalists and Russian servicemen during the flight, all those injured in a bomb explosion in the city of Deir ez-Zor on November 6 are in stable condition. The correspondents and the Russian servicemen of the International Mine Action Center are now conscious, their lives are not in danger," the ministry's statement added.

Syria has been engulfed in civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and terrorist groups. The international community has taken a number of steps aimed at settling the crisis, including through talks in Geneva and Astana.