Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 / Trend S. Aliyev /
An Azerbaijani commission to investigate the causes of the Azerbaijani plane crash in Afghanistan has stated that one of the priority versions of the plane crash is that 'Taliban shot down it'.
The cargo aircraft IL-76 4K-AZ 55 of the Azerbaijani cargo airline Silk Way crashed at 2:10 a.m. [Baku time] on Tuesday in the Afghan province of Parwan, north of Kabul.
"The version that Taliban shot down the Azerbaijani cargo plane in Afghanistan is one of the priorities," Deputy Director General of Azerbaijan Airlines Ilham Amirov said at a news conference.
He said now the commission is negotiating with the local population on to reach the crash site
Amirov said the preliminary conclusions on the basis of photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the crash site give grounds to suggest that the plane was actually owned by Silk Way, and that people, who were on board of the plane, were killed.
A total of 18 tons of cargo was on board the plane en route from Baku to Bagram. The plane picked up its cargo at the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport and took off at 21:26 (local time).
The plane with a carrying capacity of 40 tons was built in 2005 and passed a full inspection in February 2011. It passed the subsequent inspection in June 2011.