US says it shot down Iranian drone last month

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-17 16:31

BAGHDAD -- US jets shot down an Iranian unmanned surveillance aircraft last month over Iraqi territory about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, the US military said Monday.

US Army personnel patrol during a ceremony where the US army gave 2 bulldozers to the Baghdad municipality, at Yarmouk joint security center of US and Iraqis, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, March, 16, 2009. [Agencies]

A US statement said the Ababil 3 was tracked for about 70 minutes before US jets shot it down "well-inside Iraqi airspace" and that the aircraft's presence over Iraq "was not an accident."

An Iraqi official said the Iranian aircraft went down near the Iraqi border town of Mandali. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The Ababil is believed to have a maximum range of about 90 miles and can fly up to 14,000 feet. It is primarily designed for surveillance and intelligence-gathering.

US officials have frequently accused the Iranians of supplying weapons, training and money to Shiite extremist groups opposed to the US military presence and to the US-backed Iraqi government.

Iran has denied links to militant groups inside Iraq and says the instability in this country is a result of the US "occupation." The Iranians consider the presence of about 140,000 US troops in a neighboring country as a threat to their national security.