An official probe into the crash has not yet finished but survivors told authorities they heard three blasts that seemed to come from outside as the aircraft flew over Grozny.
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00:00The White House says there are early indications that Russian air defense systems may have
00:06caused an Azerbaijani passenger plane to crash in Kazakhstan earlier this week.
00:11National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. had seen evidence that would
00:16certainly point to the possibility the plane was brought down by Russian weaponry.
00:21The investigation is now focusing on what type of weapon could have caused the crash.
00:26On Thursday, Azerbaijani government sources told Euronews that an initial investigation
00:32revealed a Russian surface-to-air missile was fired at the plane as it flew over Chechnya.
00:37The plane crashed whilst attempting an emergency landing in the city of Aktau, killing 38 people
00:43and leaving 29 survivors injured.
00:46Sources said that despite the pilots' requests for an emergency landing, the aircraft wasn't
00:51allowed to land at Russian airports, forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.