Anti-tank gun used in deadly attack on Russian chopper 'was AMERICAN'

The helicopter was searching for the two pilots from the Russian bomber downed by Turkey after it flew close to its border with Syria.

Video footage claims to show members of the Free Syrian Army, who are part-funded and trained by the US and Turkey, hitting the helicopter with a US-made TOW anti-tank missile.

The world's nerves will be jangling at the claimed use of a US weapon directly against Russia.

The video shows a zoomed-in shot of the gun's instructions, which are written in English.

The two countries are in dispute over the political future of Syria.

Russia and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad are long-standing allies, while the US are committed to Assad being overthrown for a democratically elected government.

Both are committed to destroying ISIS.

The new video comes after reports that Syrian rebels shot down a Russian chopper coming to the aid of two pilots downed by the Turkish military today.

The pair, both now believed to be alive according to Turkish officials, were accused of repeatedly violating Ankara's airspace and were blasted out of the sky this morning.

A narrator on the new footage triumphantly gloats over the top of the video, exclaiming "Allahu Akbar (God is great) as the missile hits and mangled wreckage from the craft is blasted into the air.

The fighter jet was shot after Turkey claimed it encroached into its airspace, something Moscow says it can prove to be untrue.

President Vladimir Putin says the Turkey attack is a "stab in the back", while Ankara insists it had repeatedly warned the pilots.

The attack has sparked fears of a global conflict between major powers, with Turkey last week expressing its anger that its Turkmens people in border towns in Syria were being killed by Russian bombs.

(dailystar.co.uk)