US: Pro-Russian Rebels Responsible For MH 17 Crash

18th Jul 2014

​The US has made it clear that those who were responsible for the tragic crash of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner shall be brought to justice.

The Obama government has intensified its call for an aggressive campaign to end the months-long insurgency in eastern region of Ukraine following Thursday's incident. The insurgency, which has been a global concern, is openly supported by the Putin government, causing the international community, led by the United States, to impose sanctions against Russia.

The Moscow-backed separatist movement is seeking independence from Ukraine, to which the latter is resisting upholding its sovereignty over the region.

The shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane must have been the pro-Russian rebels' boldest statement that it is serious in its fight for independence.

The US has called for support from its allies around the world to impose further sanctions against Russia if it continues to ignore the international community's call to withdraw its support to the insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

In the evidence gathered by an undisclosed source, the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile from the area where the rebels maintain their stronghold.

Germany's Angela Merkel maintained in an earlier interview that the MH 17 appeared to have been hit by a missile, though she couldn't say who did it.

The ill-fated flight MH 17 would have touched down Kuala Lumpur at 10 Thursday evening (local time) after taking off from Amsterdam's Schipol Airport Thursday morning. The plane carried a total of 298 people on board including its flight crew of 15, all Malaysians.

Other fatalities include 189 Dutch nationals, 29 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 9 UK nationals, 4 each from Belgium and Germany, 3 from the Philippines, and one each from Canada and New Zealand. Four unidentified fatalities remain to be confirmed.

According to some witnesses near the crash site, they heard a very loud explosion coming from above prompting them to look up and got the shock of their life - a huge fireball falling from the sky with black smoke trailing behind indicating a horrible incident happening up there.

The latest incident is the second for Malaysia Airlines in less than 5 months since the mysterious disappearance of MH 370 in March 8 this year. All its passengers and crew went missing with the plane without a trace.