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US intelligence officials said on Tuesday they believe pro-Russian separatists likely shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 "by mistake."

Last week's downing of the airliner, in which all 298 people aboard were killed, has sharply deepened the Ukrainian crisis, in which separatist gunmen in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since pro-Western protesters in Kiev forced out a pro-Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March.

The intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the "most plausible explanation" for why the separatists fired what the United States believes was a Russian-made SA-11 surface-to-air missile at Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 was that they had mistaken it for some other kind of aircraft.

The officials said that their conclusion was backed up by intercepted conversations of known pro-Russian separatists, whose voice prints had been verified by U.S. agencies.

The speakers initially bragged about shooting down a transport plane, but later acknowledged that they might have made a mistake, the officials said.

The downing of the airliner, in which all 298 people aboard were killed, deepened the Ukrainian crisis. Separatist gunmen in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since pro-Western protesters in Kiev forced out the pro-Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea earlier this year.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has said it is convinced that Flight MH-17 was brought down on Thursday by an SA-11 missile fired from territory in Eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Officials said the U.S. did not know that the separatists were in possession or control of SA-11 missile systems until after the Malaysia Airlines plane was struck.

Separatist leaders have denied they brought the Malaysia Airlines plane down, and Russia has denied any involvement in the incident, and suggested the Ukrainian government was to blame.

（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.