MH17: Photo shows shrapnel marks on aircraft debris, say military experts

Military experts confirmed there were signs of shrapnel damage to the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 aircraft, reports the Financial Times (FT). The marks were seen in a photograph of a piece of debris measuring about a square feet with a large hole surrounded by smaller holes and burn marks. The photo was published by the newspaper over the weekend. Two London defense analysts and a former military pilot who studied the photo, believed that the signs were consistent with missile shots. A London Royal United Services Institute analyst Justin Bronk believed that the signs indicated that the aircraft was shot down by a SA-11 missile launched from Buk-M1. "The shrapnel hole size is consistent with the ones from a SA-11 attacks. However, it is difficult to conclude the overall explosion pattern with small debris of the aircraft," he told the FT. His statement was in line with popular theory that the aircraft was shot down by pro-Russian separatists using missile SA-11. The weapon is said to have been supplied to the group by Russia. Russia however dismissed the allegation and on Monday revealed that a Ukraine military jet was detected to have flown close to the ill-fated MH17. Russia had also revealed several leads to prove that the attack was carried out by the Ukraine military. The experts also agreed that the debris found had come from port side of the cockpit. The former air military pilot is of the opinion that based on the clues the flight was shot on the left side of the flight's front portion. They also claimed that the hole on the flight's body in the photo may be caused by a blast from within the aircraft when it was losing air pressure fast at the height of 10,000 metres. An analyst from the International Strategic Research Institute in London, Douglas Berry is of the opinion that the hole is consistant with "fragments of explosive detonators". Both the analyst however said further investigations should be done to find out what happened including chemical testing of explosive residues. According to FT, fragments of the aircraft's body seen in the photo was found behind a resident's house located at the crash site. The resident then moved it to the side of the road as he felt that it was important.