Middle East News
Tehran "unaware" of Iranian drone shot down by US in Iraq
Mar 17, 2009, 7:22 GMT
Tehran - Tehran said Tuesday it had no knowledge of an Iranian pilotless plane reportedly being shot down by the US military over Iraq.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters in Tehran that he was unaware of the 'vague report' on the drone that the US claimed to have shot down last month.
A US military spokesman in Baghdad said Monday that US planes destroyed an Iranian drone that had wandered deep into Iraqi airspace.
Ghashghavi said that further details should be asked from Iranian military sources.
US jet fighters downed the unmanned plane on February 25 about 100 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, after tracking it for more than one hour and determining it was not a coalition aircraft, the unnamed US spokesman said.
'This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians,' the spokesman said. 'The UAV [drone] was in Iraqi airspace for nearly one hour and 10 minutes and well inside Iraqi territory before it was engaged.'
The US military identified it as an Iranian-built Ababil 3 model.
US officials have accused Iran for years of mingling in Iraq, mainly by providing weapons to Shiite militants, charges that Tehran denies.
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