Turkey Finds Downed Jet As US Condemns Syria

The wreckage of a Turkish jet shot down by Syria has been located in Syrian waters, as the United States strongly condemned the "brazen and unacceptable act".

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the search for two missing pilots was still under way, in coordination with the Syrian authorities.

He denied it was a "joint" operation.

After talking to Mr Davutoglu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement: "We will work with Turkey and other partners to hold the Assad regime accountable.

"It is yet another reflection of the Syrian authorities' callous disregard for international norms, human life, and peace and security."

The jet was shot down over the Mediterranean on Friday, about eight miles from the Syrian coast.

Nato has agreed to a request from Turkey for an emergency meeting of member states on Tuesday to discuss its response to the incident.

Turkey's foreign minister has claimed the plane was hit without warning in international airspace.

Mr Davutoglu said the F4 Phantom jet momentarily strayed into Syrian airspace - but was not on a spying mission.

He said the plane was unarmed and had no "covert mission related to Syria," and was on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities.

Syria has said its action was "not an attack", but took down the plane because it violated its airspace.

While Mr Davutoglu admitted the plane had entered Syrian airspace by mistake, he asserted it was shot down in "international airspace" several minutes after it left, and without warning.

Mr Davutoglu told state TV: "According to our conclusions, our plane was shot down in international airspace, 13 nautical miles from Syria.

"The plane did not show any sign of hostility toward Syria and was shot down about 15 minutes after having momentarily violated Syrian airspace."

The minister said there was no warning from Syria before it shot down the plane, adding: "The Syrians knew full well that it was a Turkish military plane and the nature of its mission."

Tensions have been growing between the neighbouring countries since the incident on Friday, with the international community urging both nations to exercise restraint.

Mr Davutoglu said he would present the incident formally to the Nato military alliance under article four of its founding treaty.

The article provides for states to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened".

It stops short of the explicit mention of possible armed responses cited in article five.

Turkey has taken in more than 30,000 refugees who have fled the violence in Syria and the year-long uprising against President Bashar al Assad.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned Syria's shooting down of the plane as "an outrageous act".

???"This deplorable incident underlines the urgent need to find a solution to the current crisis in Syria in order to bring an end to the violence and to achieve a genuine political transition," he said.