Missile downed Malaysia Airlines jet? Follows near miss by North Korean rocket last week

TEL AVIV — Just eight days after a terrorist attack in the city of Kunming dubbed “China’s September 11th,” a Malaysia Airlines flight carrying mostly Chinese passengers disappeared over the South China Sea.

Image: Malaysian Airlines (Wiki Commons)

Malaysian Airlines 

While the international probe is in its early stages and questions are being raised about the prospect of terrorism, investigators would be wise to thoroughly examine the possibility of a missile attack in light of recent information about the global proliferation of such projectiles capable of downing civilian airliners.

Further, China has issued a series of warnings about North Korean missiles, including one that crossed paths with a Chinese airliner carrying 220 people just last week.

On Friday, China complained to North Korea when one of its missiles came dangerously close to a civilian jet last Tuesday. The airplane had departed Tokyo’s Narita airport en route to the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

One day earlier, South Korea’s defense ministry released a statement saying the Chinese civilian plane had “passed as the ballistic missile (from North Korea) was in the course of descending.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, “On this issue, we have already contacted the North Korean side to convey our deep concern.”