Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck Azerbaijan Airlines plane, says US
Hours after Russia and Kazakhstan sought to play down ‘hypotheses’ about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, a US official as cited by news agency Reuters, said.
There were early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The report comes after a Ukrainian national security official and few sources cited Reuters, in Azerbaijan also underlined that the crash, killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire.
The jet crashed in a field near Aktau in Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, while the plane was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia. Twenty-nine people survived.
A video of the crash showed the plane plummeting from the sky and bursting into flames, with thick, black smoke rising from the wreckage.