Summary
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 and injuring 29, with speculation mounting that Russia’s military may have been involved.
Experts doubt Russia’s suggestion of a bird strike, citing damage to the plane’s fuselage consistent with shrapnel from an airborne weapon.
The plane’s GPS system was reportedly malfunctioning, and survivors reported hearing an explosion before the crash.
Investigations by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia are ongoing, with black boxes recovered.
The incident evokes comparisons to the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Yeah probably because there’s pretty fucking obvious evidence of damage from a proximity-fused frag warhead (used in SHORAD systems like the one that likely shot the plane down). I’m honestly just amused that the Russians are continuing to stick to their lines on this one. But they’ve done that with much bigger things (MH17; Moskva), so it checks out.