A group of foreign journalists organized by the Russian Defense Ministry to observe the ceasefire situation in Syria came under artillery fire in Syria's northern province of Latakia. Some in the group were wounded, including a Chinese journalist, according to a report from the Russia Today news agency on Tuesday.

"The shells were fired from the Turkish border, the area of Dama, near Idlib," the TASS news agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying.

The group consisted of 33 journalists from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Russia and the United States, and was organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. The attack occurred when the journalists went to visit the Latakia air base in Syria.

Konashenkov said a total of eight artillery shells were fired, and that they crashed at distances ranging from 150 meters to 400 meters away from the journalists.

The Chinese embassy in Russia confirmed that the Chinese reporter's right leg and left hand had been injured by the artillery fire.

The U.S.-Russia truce for “cessation of hostilities” in Syria came into effect on Feb. 27. The ceasefire does not apply to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Al-Nusra, or other terrorist organizations, as designated by the U.N.

The Syrian Civil War broke out in March 2011. According to the U.N., more 250,000 people have been killed, and more than 1 million people injured as a result of the war in recent years.