The World : Angola Shot Botswana Jet

Angola acknowledged that one of its jet fighters mistakenly shot and crippled an aircraft carrying Botswana President Quett Masire and seven of his aides over Angola on Sunday, the Botswana Press Agency said. In a brief dispatch, the news agency said that the Angolan fighter pilot had mistaken Masire’s jet for an “enemy aircraft.” Masire, who was on his way to the Angolan capital of Luanda for a meeting of southern African heads of state, and protocol chief Bashi Ikitseng were slightly injured when the plane’s right engine exploded at an altitude of 35,000 feet, sending metal fragments into the cabin. The plane made an emergency landing at Cuito Bie, 375 miles southeast of Luanda.