Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Iran Says Downed Drone Was Deep in Its Airspace

TEHRAN, Iran --
The unmanned U.S. spy plane was deep inside Iran's airspace, flying over an eastern town famous for Persian carpets and saffron when it was downed by Iranian armed forces, state radio reported Wednesday.

The report said the stealth-version of the RQ-170 drone was detected by Iranian forces over the eastern town of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan.

"The U.S. smart plane was captured by Iranian anti-aircraft units somewhere in the sky over Kashmar in the east of the country," the radio said. It did not speculate as to why the drone flew over the town, which lies in an agricultural area known for the production of saffron and Persian carpets.

The radio added that Iran will "soon" broadcast video footage of the downed drone.

Iran first reported the downing on Sunday but did not say when the incident happened. At the time, the official IRNA news agency said Iran's armed forces had shot it down -- a claim later rejected by U.S. officials who said the drone crashed over the weekend but that there was no indication it had been shot down.

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