Putin jets blast ISIS HQ in Syria with bunker-buster bombs

Russian bombers have abliterated nine Islamic State (ISIS) outposts in just 24 hours as Vladimir Putin steps up his huge bombing campaign in Syria. Soviet jets pounded terrorist targets in Syria overnight using bunker busting bombs to blow up an ISIS command centre, potentially killing dozens of fighters. The raids come after a senior British military expert said the West has been totally outflanked by Putin on the Syria crisis because its policy making has been dominated by “wishful thinking”. Confirming the successful raids, Andrei Kartapolov from the Russian army General Staff, said: We will not only continue strikes... we will also increase their intensity.” And Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: “Over the past 24 hours, Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M fighter jets have performed 20 sorties and hit nine Islamic State installations. “A bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb dropped from a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber near Raqqa has eliminated the command post of one of the terror groups, together with an underground storage facility for explosives and munitions. “These and other highly exact means of attack in recent days have been used to target objects of Islamic State terrorists: command posts, stores of weapons and oil products, workshops where weapons of suicide bombers are made.” Russia has launched a blitz bombing campaign against enemies of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in recent days. Putin has been accused of targeting the Western-backed Syrian Free Army and civilians instead of ISIS militants, a claim Russia rejects. Citing video taken of the latest strikes by a Russian drone, Konashenkov said it was clear his bombers had destroyed a large ISIS arms depot. He said: “A powerful explosion inside the bunker indicates it was also used for storing a large quantity of munitions. As you can see, a direct hit on the installation resulted in the detonation of explosives and multiple fires. It was completely demolished.” Meanwhile a Syrian military official claimed that Russian warplanes had carried out a series of “concentrated and precise” strikes against ISIS in central and northern areas of the war-torn country. The unnamed spokesman said that airstrikes destroyed a command centre in the central town of Latamneh and targeted positions in the northwestern areas of Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan. Putin began his aerial assault in Syria last week, with Russia launching 12 airstrikes against ISIS and “other terrorist groups” on Friday. However, Western leaders have reacted furiously to the intervention after intelligence suggested that hardly any of the raids have been targeted against ISIS. Putin is keen to shore up the rule of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, a long-time ally whose power is threatened by rebel pro-democracy groups including the Free Syrian Army. EXPRESS.CO.UK