New footage shows Iranian missiles hitting Ukraine plane

Washington DC: New video footage has emerged showing two Iranian missiles tearing through the night sky and hitting a Ukrainian passenger plane, sending the aircraft down in flames and killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

The projectiles were fired 30 seconds apart and explain why the plane's transponder was not working as it hurtled to the ground -- it was disabled by the first strike, before being hit by a second, said the New York Times, which published the verified security camera footage Tuesday.

The blurry film, shot from a rooftop in a village four miles from an Iranian military site, shows the Kiev-bound plane on fire and circling back to Tehran's airport, the Times said. Minutes later, the aircraft exploded and crashed.

Iran had for days denied Western claims that the Boeing 737 had been downed by its missiles.

Tehran came clean on Saturday when Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh acknowledged a missile operator had mistaken the Ukraine International Airlines plane for a cruise missile and opened fire.

The incident happened when Iran's armed forces were on heightened alert after launching a volley of missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US troops in retaliation for the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani on January 3.

Iran has struggled to contain the fallout over its handling of the air disaster and the tragedy has seen hundreds of angry protesters, most of them students, take to the

streets.

New videos circulating on social media purported to show fresh protests on Tuesday evening at universities in Tehran, along with clashes between students and Basij militia loyal to the establishment. It was not possible to immediately verify the videos. Earlier, correspondents said around 200 mainly masked students gathered at Tehran University and were locked in a tense standoff with youths from the Basij.

Kept apart by security forces, the groups eventually parted ways.