BAKU: A passenger on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that there was at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia

It was Christmas Day when a passenger plane crashed in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau. Out of 67 people on board, 38 died and

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

An Azerbaijani minister suggested Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony indicating that the plane was struck from the outside.

The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s south, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

"No one claims that it was done on purpose," an Azerbaijan official told Reuters. They added their government "expects the Russian side to confess."

Two U.S. military officials tell NBC News the U.S. has intelligence indicating that the Russians may have misidentified the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that went down earlier this week, and shot it down with an air defense system.