Thirty-eight of 67 onboard flight from Baku to the Chechen city Grozny believed to have been killed. Russian authorities cite bird strike.

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny that crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan was shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Source: Reuters, citing its sources Quote: "One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system.

Russia and Kazakhstan have tried to calm speculation about the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, following claims it had been shot down by Russian air defence systems. On Thursday, Moscow urged calm as its foreign minister said it would be wrong to come to conclusions before an investigation into the crash was complete.