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Fight against Islamic state

Body of Russian commando killed in Syria will be brought to home village in May

Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko was killed in action while directing Russian air strikes against militants of the Islamic State

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS/archive

ORENBURG/BEIRUT, April 28. /TASS/. The body of Russian commando Alexander Prokhorenko, who was killed in Syria on a combat mission earlier this spring, will be brought to his birthplace in the Orenburg Region in May, the regional government’s press office told TASS without specifying the day of the funeral.

It remains unclear whether the officer’s body has been handed over to Russian military in Syria already or not, and when it will be brought to his home village in the lower reaches of the Volga River.

"Alexander Prokhorenko’s body will be delivered to the village of Gorodky for burial in early May. The date is not known yet," the press-office said.

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Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko was killed in action while directing Russian air strikes against militants of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) near the Tadmor community, Homs province. When surrounded by the enemy, Prokhorenko ordered an air strike on himself.

The official spokesman for the Kurdish self-defense force, Redur Khalil, said the body was recovered "in a special humanitarian operation carried out at the request of Russia." Khali did not say whether the Kurds had handed the officer’s body over to Russia.

Alexander Prokhorenko was born in the Orenburg Region. He graduated from the air defense missile school and air defense academy in Smolensk. Under a presidential decree on April 11 he was posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia title.

Russia started dealing air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria in September 2015 at the request of President Bashar Assad. The decision to revoke the bulk of the Russian air group from Syria followed in March 2016.

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