MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Five prominent field commanders who masterminded a terrorist attack on September 18 against the Russian military police in Syria and 32 militants were killed in a special operation in the Idlib province, Russian Defense Ministry Official Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
"After the terrorist attack on September 18 against the Russian military police in the Hama province the entire multilevel intelligence system of the Russian Defense Ministry in Syria was used to search for and destroy commanders of the attacking militants," Konashenkov said.
A surgical missile strike was delivered at the scene of a meeting attended by the field commanders from the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group (Jabhat al-Nusra, terror group outlawed in Russia) to the south of the Idlib city, he said. The location of the meeting, held outside a settlement, had been confirmed via several channels.
The five field commanders are Abu Sulman al-Saudi (chief of southern sector in Idlib province), Abu al-Abbas Anadin (emir on financial issues), Abu Hasan (adviser to military minister Abu Muhammad al-Djulani), Walid al-Mustafa (aide to spiritual leader Abdallah al-Muheisni) and also Abu Mudjagid (sharia judge), Konashenkov said.
During the operation, an ammunition and explosives depot and also six trucks with large-caliber armaments were destroyed. The death of the terrorist group’s leaders in a missile strike has been confirmed via several independent channels.
An operation to locate and destroy all militants involved in the attack on the Russian military in Syria is underway, the spokesman said.