The Syrian pilot who bailed out before the crash on Turkish territory says, his MiG-23 had been shot down. Turkey's state-run news agency, Anadolu said that pilot, Mehmet Sufhan, told a Turkish rescue team that the military aircraft was shot down on its way to strike rural areas near Idlib in northern Syria. The Syrian military plane crashed near the border between Syria and Turkey on Saturday. <br/><br/>Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said, officials are investigating why and how the plane crashed within the country's borders, and which mission it was carrying out. An Islamist group which is fighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said the plane had been shot down, but the Syrian Government has not confirmed it. Turkey supports rebel forces in Syria, which oppose the Government of Bashar al-Assad. Turkish military forces also operate on the Syrian side of the border, targeting both Kurdish rebel fighters and Islamic State terrorists.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Syrian army has expanded its control over former Islamic State-held villages gaining more territory in Aleppo province. Syrian state media said its forces had been expanding control over former Islamic State-held villages in northwest Syria, an area close to Turkey's Hatay region where the aircraft crashed. At least 15 people were killed and several injured in twin suicide attacks in northern province of Aleppo yesterday. The United Nation's humanitarian coordination agency in its report said that more than 66,000 people have been displaced by recent fighting from Al-Bab city and nearby Tadef town in Aleppo.