Ukrainian plane shot down mistakenly, says Iran

KABUL (Pajhwok): Iran has acknowledged that its military “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board.

The Ukrainian airliner burst into flames shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard.

An initial report blamed the crash on engine failure. At least 10 Afghan nationals were among the victims of the crash.

But the Iranian state TV announced the plane was mistakenly shot down. Iranian Foreign Minister Javed Zarif apologised for the incident and extended condolences to the victims’ families and countries.

After the plane crash, the United States and Canada claimed Iran had shot down the aircraft but Tehran rejected the allegation as baseless for several days.

The Ukrainian president, in a telephone call, condoled with President Ashraf Ghani over the killing of 10 Afghan citizens in the crash.

The Afghan embassy in Tehran said an investigation was underway to identify the Afghan victims and collect other information.

On the other hand, the foreign ministry in Kabul said a delegation had been dispatched to Iran to discuss the killing of Afghans with Iranian officials.

sa/mud

Views: 46