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Russian soldier has died a 'hero' after wiping out a band of ISIS fighters by calling in airstrikes on himself, reports Daily Mail.

The special forces officer was on a one-man mission to track down ISIS militants in the area around Palmyra, when he found himself surrounded by enemy fighters. Caught in a hopeless situation, he directed Russian aircraft to bomb his location, killing himself and the ISIS fighters that surrounded him. 

‘An officer of Russian special operations forces was killed near Palmyra while carrying out a special task to direct Russian airstrikes at Islamic State group targets,’ said a spokesperson for the Russian military.

The Russian campaign began on September 30, but few details of the soldiers on the ground have emerged since, according to the source.

ISIS media claimed last week that five Russian special forces officers had been killed near Palmyra, sharing images and videos of a body, yet Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied at the time that Russian officers were participating in the advance on Palmyra, which has been under ISIS control since May 2015.

Instead, he claimed 'the advance is carried out by contingents of the Syrian army', with support from Russian warplanes and allied militia on the ground.  

Russian Defense Ministry said Russian aircraft carried out 146 strikes on ‘terrorist targets’ in the Palmyra area between Wednesday and last Sunday.