WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2020) A video that purportedly shows a Ukrainian passenger jet being hit near Tehran's international airport and then exploding as it hit the ground was published on the internet by the New York Times, which said it had verified the images as authentic.
The edited video, released on Thursday, begins with scores of fireballs hitting the ground against the backdrop of a darkened sky before showing a rocket plume streaking across the sky. An apparent collision comes next, quickly by a ground-level explosion that sent a red flash on the horizon.
The video then switches to daytime, showing parts of a fuselage debris scattered across the ground, briefly pausing to show a child's toy - a stuffed horse or unicorn with a rainbow colored tail - before moving on to scenes with first responders amid rows of corpses in body bags.
The US government claims the Boeing 737 jet was downed by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile - apparently by accident - shortly after taking off from Tehran's international airport bound for Ukraine.
All 176 passengers and crew, including 63 Canadians died in the crash, hours after Iran attacked two military bases in Iraq with a barrage of 22 ballistic missiles in retaliation for the US assassination of a top Iranian general.
