Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Dec. downed by Russian Pantsir-S missile, says government source

The Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed in December after being diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system,  an Azerbaijani government source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Thirty-eight people were killed when the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed on Dec. 25 near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after re-routing across the Caspian Sea from southern Russia.

"The Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of a Pantsir-S missile which was extracted from the aircraft and identified through international expertise," the source said.

News.Az