MH17: Bringing those responsible to justice is international task

It is an international task to detect and bring to justice those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17, says global security foundation, Ploughshares Fund president Joseph Cirincione.

"This is clearly an international task ... the Government of Malaysia has pledged to get to the bottom of this, to do (carry out) its own investigation (and) is investigating this very aggressively," he said.

He said this at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Isis) International Affairs Forum on 'The Crisis in Ukraine and Emerging Geo-Political Issues' here today.

He added that the United States (US) and European nations were also pushing to resolve and find out who was responsible for shooting down Flight MH17.

"It may be those who fired those missiles did not know what they were shooting at, but that simply is no excuse.

"...and I believe the people who did the shooting be held responsible in all instances," said Cirincione, who is also a member of US Secretary of State John Kerry's International Security Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft was shot down over the troubled country.

Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among those on board.

Forty-four Malaysians were on the ill-fated aircraft, and the remains of 42 of them have been brought home, so far.