国际英语新闻:Malaysian Airliner Crashes in Eastern Ukraine

The VKontakte posting, which also included video showing smoke rising purportedly from the fields outside the village of Torez, was posted at 5:50 p.m. Moscow time, and read:

"In the vicinity of Torez, an An-26 was just shot down, falling somewhere in the vicinity of the Progress coal mine. We warned them about this: Don't fly over 'our skies.' And here is video confirmation of the latest 'bird strike.' The bird fell near the slagheap, the residential district was not struck. No civilians suffered. There's also information about a second downed plane, apparently a [Sukhoi]."

There was no immediate way to authenticate the video or the postings, although the claims appeared to match up with initial reports about when and where the Malaysian airliner went down.
 
The posting was later removed from the VKontakte page.

A later posting on the same VKontatke page and the Twitter feed linked to Strelkov quoted a top official with the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic as confirming that a passenger jet had crashed neared Torez. The post, attributed to Alexander Borodai, denied rebel involvement, instead suggesting that Ukrainian forces were responsible.

Insurgent forces have shorter range anti-aircraft weapons, like those known as "Igla" and have used them to down other Ukainian military flights and possibly even, a helicopter.  Borodai, however, said via Twitter that the rebels do not have weapons capable of hitting an airliner flying at 33,000 feet.

Russian media reports published June 29, however, quoted insurgent officials as having seized a Ukrainian anti-aircraft base where Buk missile systems were based.

The Associated Press reported seeing a Buk missile system in Snizhne earlier Thursday.

Ukraine's leading security agency, the SBU, released audio recordings in which a man it identified as a rebel commander is heard telling a Russian military officer that insurgents had downed the plane. The recordings, posted on YouTube and elsewhere, could not be independently verified.

In Washington, the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told VOA that analysts were sifting through data to try and determine the missile's origin.

The official also said it was unlikely the plane was hit by accident, though it was possible the attackers could have mistaken the jet for a military plane.

Bodies discovered

A Reuters reporter at the scene of the crash in Ukraine said dozens of bodies were scattered around the smoldering wreckage.

A rescue worker said at least 100 bodies had so far been found, and that debris was spread across an area up to about nine miles in diameter. Broken pieces of the wings were marked with blue and red paint - the same colors as the emblem of the Malaysian airline.

"I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a plane and then a bang and shots. Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two. There was thick black smoke," one witness, who gave his name only as Vladimir, was quoted as saying.

A separatist rebel from the nearby village of Krasnyi Luch who gave his name only as Sergei said: "From my balcony I saw a plane begin to descend from a great height and then heard two explosions.

Malaysia launches investigation

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane made no distress call before disappearing from radar. Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, meanwhile, said earlier there was no confirmation the flight had been shot down.

The incident comes four months after another Malaysia Airlines plane went missing while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew. That plane has not been found.

Plane downed Monday

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has ebbed and flowed since erupting in late April and early May. After repeated battlefield failures, Ukrainian forces seized the initiative in recent weeks, re-taking strategic towns around the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Russian support for the insurgents has never been definitively confirmed, though most observers have concluded that the presence of Russian citizens, paramilitary units and heavy weaponry like tanks in eastern Ukraine indicate Moscow's backing.

Insurgents have downed several aircraft during their rebellion, most recently on Monday, when a Ukrainian military An-26 crashed in Luhansk region.

Separatists also claimed responsibility for hitting a Ukrainian Su-25 with a missile earlier Wednesday. The pilot of that plane managed to bring it down safely.

Also Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said a missile fired by a Russian warplane hit and brought down a Ukrainian Su-25 flying over eastern Ukraine, but that the pilot safely ejected.