I know of no surface to air missile with that kind of range. Even if a missile was fired from a ship below the airliner's flight path, it'd have to be substancially larger than a shoulder-launched SAM to reach that altitude. Color me skeptical until more information is available.

* True, Larry. Missiles? Bombs of the internal kind, maybe. Could someone be wanting to send a message to Russia and Israel at the same time... aiming also to freeze air transportations/freedom of flight that most countries have.

"Ivan Teterian, chief of the local Ministry of Emergency Situations branch in southern Russia, said "we cannot exclude a terrorist attack." He added that only a further investigation could confirm it."

Fine... we'll wait for confirmation. In the meantime, there's nothing wrong with skepticism.

Marcia