Russian Soldier Reportedly Calls In Airstrike on Himself

A Russian special forces soldier appears to have pulled a move straight out of an action movie, calling down an airstrike on himself after he was discovered by ISIS troops in Syria, Reuters reports. According to AFP, the soldier was on a week-long mission identifying ISIS targets and passing the coordinates along for airstrikes. He called for his final, dramatic airstrike at some point in the past week near Palmyra. "The soldier died heroically, calling the strike onto himself after he was discovered and surrounded by terrorists," Reuters quotes the Interfax news agency.

The Russian soldier is at least the seventh killed in Syria since Russia launched a military campaign in the Middle Eastern country back in September. But it was only this week that Russia finally admitted it had special forces soldiers participating in combat missions inside Syria. Syrian troops entered Palmyra on Thursday. It had been held by ISIS since last May. (More Syria stories.)