A Malaysian airliner has been brought down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides.
Ukraine accused "terrorists" - fighters aiming to unite eastern Ukraine with Russia - of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with a Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement, although around the same time their military commander said his forces had downed a much smaller Ukrainian transport plane. It would be their third such kill this week.
US Vice President Joe Biden said the downing of the plane was "not an accident" and that the passenger jet was "apparently ... blown out of the sky".
Burning and charred wreckage bearing the red and blue Malaysia insignia and dozens of bodies were strewn in fields near the village of Hrabove, 40km from the Russian border near the rebel-held regional capital of Donetsk.
Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said the plane fell in an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists. "The investigation will be very difficult given that it's controlled by the rebels," he said.
Despite the shooting down of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area in recent months, including two this week, and renewed accusations from Kiev that Russian forces were taking a direct part, international air lanes had remained open.
Malaysia Airlines said that 154 Dutch citizens, 27 Australians, 43 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, nine British, four German, four Belgian, three Filipinos and one Canadian were onboard the aircraft.
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