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Putin: Russian strikes in Syria killed hundreds of militants

Moscow - Putin said between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other ex-Soviet nations are fighting alongside Daesh militants.

Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed hundreds of militants, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday as he called for a shared military effort of ex-Soviet nations to prevent possible militant incursions to Syria from Afghanistan.
Putin told a meeting of leaders of ex-Soviet nations in Kazakhstan that the Russian military has achieved "impressive" results during the air campaign in Syria that began on Sept. 30.
"Dozens of control facilities and ammunition depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large number of weapons have been destroyed," he said.
Putin reaffirmed that the Russian bombing blitz against the Daesh group and other militant groups in Syria will continue "for the period of the Syrian troops' offensive operations against terrorists," but wouldn't elaborate.
He said between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other ex-Soviet nations are fighting alongside Daesh militants.
"We can't allow them to use the experience they have just gained in Syria back home," he said.
Russian jets have flown more than 600 combat sorties since start of the air campaign, said Col.-Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian military's General Staff.
He shrugged off the US claim that four of the 26 cruise missiles launched at targets in Syria by Russian navy ships from the southern part of the Caspian Sea had crashed on the Iranian territory.
"The Pentagon may say whatever it wants," he told the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. "All our missiles reached their targets."
Kartapolov said the Russian jets haven't yet faced any surface-to-air missiles and warned that their use by the rebels would signal a foreign involvement.
Putin, speaking in Kazakhstan, said the situation in Afghanistan is "close to critical" and called on other ex-Soviet nations to be prepared to act together to repel a possible attack.
"Terrorists of all kinds are getting increasing clout and aren't hiding their plans of further expansion," Putin said in televised remarks. "One of their goals is to push into the Central Asian region. It's important that we are prepared to react to this scenario together."