Syria State Media Says Downed Plane Had Technical Malfunction

Dispute rebel claim that it was shot down

A group of Syrian rebels said they captured the pilot of a warplane that the Free Syrian Army claimed to have downed Monday in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

A video distributed by the "Revolutionary Youth of the Land of the Euphrates" shows a man identified as pilot Mufid Mohammed Suleiman, surrounded by three armed men. "My mission was to bomb the town of Muhasen" in Deir Ezzor, said the man.