Russia says one of its air strikes in Syria has critically injured the leader of an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance and 12 of his field commanders.
The defence ministry cited its sources as confirming that Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani lost limbs in the attack in the north province of Idlib on Tuesday.
The strike came after Russia's military learnt where Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) commanders were due to meet, it added.
The jihadi group denied the claim, in a statement on its Telegram message app.
Jawlani was in "good health and exercising the duties assigned to him completely", HTS said.
However, HTS-linked news outlet Iba reported on Tuesday that Russian air strikes had targeted an airport and courthouse around Abu al-Zuhur in eastern Idlib, killing three people and wounding several others.
Russia said in July that it might have killed the leader of the rival jihadist group Islamic State (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But there was no confirmation from IS and a new audio message purportedly from Baghdadi was released last week.
BBC
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