The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group shot down on Saturday a Russian military helicopter in the central Syrian province of Homs, killing all of its crew, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday.

The aircraft fell in the wilderness of the ancient city of Palmyra, SOHR added.

The London-based NGO gave no further details on the downing of the helicopter, but added that there are clashes between pro-government forces and IS jihadists in Palmyra.

IS’ Amaq news agency released a video of the alleged downing, showing an explosion in the rear part of the aircraft before the crash.

On July 1, armed fighters killed a Syrian pilot, after his plane crashed due to technical problems near Damascus. EFE

The attack on Russian forces comes at the end of a truce period in Syria.

The General Command of the Syrian army and armed forces announced on Wednesday that a truce will be enforced across Syria for 72 hours, the Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA, reported.

The General Command said in a statement that “the truce will last from 1:00 am July 6th until midnight July 8th,” SANA added.

The truce covers the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrated by Muslims to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

For his part, general coordinator of the Supreme Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, posted a statement on his Twitter account through which he called on all parties to remain committed to the truce.

However, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abderrahman told EFE that there have been attacks in different parts of the country after midnight on Wednesday. EFE