Azerbaijani authorities believe the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, was shot by a Russian anti-aircraft missile, multiple reports said on Thursday. The Turkish state news agency Anadolu cited anonymous senior state officials in Azerbaijan as saying the plane was hit by a missile on Wednesday.

Multiple shrapnel holes in the plane’s fuselage and its altitude at the time of incident contradict the bird theory. Azerbaijan accused Russia of hitting the passenger jet with a missile. The pilot did not decide to fly to Aktau;

The plane was diverted from Russia and had its GPS jammed before crashing in Kazakhstan, killing 38.

Azerbaijani authorities believe the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile, several media reported Thursday. The jet was en route from the country's capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, on Wednesday but crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan.

Russia's aviation watchdog said the captain of the plane had been offered other airports at which to land, but had chosen Kazakhstan's Aktau.

The Russian aviation chief made a shocking revelation on Azerbaijani plane crash mystery. Dmitry Yadrov claimed Ukrainian drones attacked Grozny during the plane’s attempted landing, forcing it to divert.