2 killed in hard landing of Tu-22M3 bomber in NW Russia

MOSCOW, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Tu-22M3 bomber crashed Tuesday while making a hard landing at a military airfield in the northwestern Murmansk Region, killing two of four servicemen on board, local media reported.

The Tu-22M3 plane made a hard landing in heavy snowfall after completing a scheduled training flight, the Russian Defense Ministry was quoted as saying. The other two servicemen were injured.

A Tu-22M3 bomber is a long-range strategic strike aircraft which went into service in 1989 and has been used extensively in airstrikes in Syria.