Plane ‘unintentionally’ shot down: Iran TV_1

Iran has made a dramatic turnaround in the shooting down of a Ukrainian jetliner, making a televised announcement that its military 'unintentionally' shot down the Boeing 737-800, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

The statement, run on Iranian state TV, was made on Saturday and blamed "human error" for the surface-to-air missile which brought down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752.

On Friday, the country's head of civil aviation denied reports Iran was to blame as “illogical rumours”.

“Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane and such rumours are illogical,” the semi-official ISNA News Agency quoted Ali Abedzadeh as saying.

But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believed Iran shot down the aircraft.

The jetliner went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in neighbouring Iraq.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kiiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

More to come.

with agencies