ANKARA - Turkey said it has found no traces of explosives on the wreckage of a fighter jet it has claimed was downed by Syria, raising new questions about the incident that inflamed cross-border tensions.
"No traces of explosives or flammable products were found on the debris recovered from the sea," a statement from Turkey's general staff said on Wednesday, adding that other material was still being examined.
For the first time, the army also declined to use the term "shot down by Syria" instead referring to "our plane that Syria claimed to have destroyed".
Turkey has previously maintained that the F-4 Phantom was shot down in international airspace over the eastern Mediterranean by Syrian fire on June 22, further souring relations between the one-time allies.
The two-man crew perished in the incident.
