Plane shot down: Iran, it was a radar adjustment error

(ANSA) - TEHERAN, JULY 12 - A "human mistake" in adjusting a military radar was the "key element" of the shooting down of the Ukrainian Boeing last January 8 by Iran that killed 176 people: Tehran civil aviation reported in a report.
    The report confirms that the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737 that took off from Tehran to Kiev was shot down by two missiles of the anti-Iranian system, launched 30 seconds from each other.
    Of the 176 people on board, all dead, 147 were Iranians, including those with dual citizenship.
    The report points out that there was a "human error" committed by an operator of one of the defense systems who failed to adjust the radar, which led to a 107-degree error in the geographic direction of the system. "Following the incorrect alignment - observes the Civil Aviation - the system was unable to accurately perceive the trajectory of the Ukrainian plane".
    This, the report continues, was followed by a chain of errors in the following minutes which led to the tragedy.
    Iran, after initially denying any responsibility, admitted three days after the aircraft had been shot down by mistake by its defense systems, in alarm for a possible enemy attack after, a few hours earlier, the Revolutionary Guards had struck with a salvo of missiles an Iraqi basemilitary where American troops were present.
   Reprisal for the killing by the United States on January 3 of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a drone attack on Baghdad airport.