Iraqis 'shot down plane'

2005-05-17 13:36

London - Insurgents armed with rudimentary anti-aircraft weapons likely shot down a British military plane in Iraq earlier this year, killing all 10 servicemen on board, reported a newspaper on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the ministry of defence described the report in the Daily Telegraph as "unhelpful speculation", pending the completion in two or three weeks of a final report on an investigation into the January 30 crash.

He said: "We have not moved on from when the interim report was published back in March."

An interim report into the cause of Britain's biggest single-day loss of life in the Iraq campaign ruled out almost everything apart from enemy fire, and it was suggested that a missile or rocket propelled grenade could have brought the Royal Air Force (RAF) craft down.

Forcing US-led coalition planes

A military official, however, told the Daily Telegraph that the final report concluded that the C-130 Hercules had been shot down by anti-aircraft rounds as it flew at a low altitude, possibly 46 metres.

The anonymous official was quoted as saying: "It was shredded by a multi-barrelled 20mm canon. They have worked out that's what caused the crash."

According to the daily if the report was accurate, it could force US-led coalition planes to fly out of range of all anti-aircraft fire.

It said the gun was believed to have been a 1960s twin-barrel Zu-23, made in China or the Soviet Union and left over from the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein.

It had an effective range of 1.8km and could be mounted on a lorry or set on wheels.

The Daily Telegraph added that it was still unknown why the Hercules, which was equipped with sophisticated defensive measures, was flying at low altitude for a short journey from Baghdad airport to another military air base on January 30, when the majority of flights climb much higher.

- AFP