Moscow: Russia said on Wednesday it had killed 12 field commanders of Al Qaida’s former Syria affiliate, adding the group’s top leader Abu Mohammad Al Jolani had lost an arm and was in a “critical condition”.

The Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) group later denied Al Jolani had been injured, saying he was carrying out his duties as normal, in a statement posted on Telegram.

The HTS is dominated by the Fateh Al Sham faction and was previously known as Al Nusra Front before renouncing its ties to Al Qaida. It controls most of the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

“Hayat Tahrir Al Sham denies what was circulated in the media about the injury of Shaikh Abu Mohammad Al Jolani and confirms that the shaikh is in good health and is carrying out fully all the duties entrusted to him,” it said.

The statement came hours after Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Al Jolani had “received multiple serious shrapnel wounds, lost an arm and is in a critical condition”.

“As a result of the strike, the leader of Jabhat Al Nusra, Abu Mohammad Al Jolani, received multiple serious shrapnel wounds, lost an arm and is in a critical condition, according to several independent sources,” said Konashenkov.

Twelve field commanders including Al Jolani’s security chief were also killed along with some 50 guards, he said in a statement.

More than 10 fighters received moderate and serious blast injuries, he said, adding that Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-35 jets were used to target the extremists.

The defence ministry spokesman said the strike was the result of a special operation to avenge an attack on Russian military police in the so-called Idlib de-escalation zone on September 18.

The Moscow-led forces were able to hunt down the extremist group using data obtained by Russian military intelligence on Tuesday and struck just as the fighters convened for a meeting.

‘Minister of War’

Washington and the UN did not recognise the break from Al Qaida and retained the jihadists on their terror blacklists.

In the past few months, Russia has claimed to have killed several top extremist commanders.

Russia reported in June its jets had possibly killed the leader of Daesh, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi during a bombing raid near the Daesh stronghold of Raqa in Syria, and it said in July it was struggling to confirm if he was dead or alive.

In September Daesh released an audio recording of what it said was its leader Al Baghdadi.

Since the assault on Russian military police, Idlib has been the target of heavy air strikes by the Syrian regime and Russia.

The Russian defence ministry said three officers were wounded in the September 18 attack and would be decorated, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said three Russian soldiers had been killed in clashes with Daesh.

Idlib province and some adjacent areas form one of four so-called de-escalation zones agreed in May by rebel backer Turkey and government allies Russia and Iran.

Russia intervened in support of the regime of President Bashar Al Assad in September 2015 and has helped government forces win back large parts of the country.

In the past weeks, Russia has lost a number of officers in the conflict including a general, Valery Asapov, believed to be the country’s highest-ranking casualty of the Syrian campaign.

A total of more than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.