(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed last year killing 298 people after being brought down by a Buk missile fired from the eastern part of Ukraine when it entered airspace that should have been closed, a Dutch-led probe concluded.

The warhead detonated about 1 meter (3 feet) from the cockpit, ejecting hundreds of metal fragments that caused the break up of the Boeing Co. 777, which had been en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Dutch Safety Board Chairman Tjibbe Joustra said Tuesday.

The missile was fired from within an area of 320 square kilometers, Joustra said, adding in comments later that the zone appeared to have been under the control of pro-Russia rebels at war with government forces, though the frontier was changing regularly.

Attention now turns to a criminal probe into the tragedy, which will carry on into next year after identifying “persons of interest” to the inquiry, according to a separate statement. The Netherlands is leading both investigations because the majority of victims were Dutch.

The reconstruction of the Boeing jet with pieces recovered from the crash was “complicated" by the fact that the wreckage lay within an area of active fighting, Joustra said. Fragments were still being gathered until as recently as two weeks ago, and more items may be found, though that won’t change the safety board’s conclusions, he said.

‘Terrorist act’

Joustra said that apportioning blame for the incident wasn’t part of the investigation’s official mandate and that the subject is one for the criminal probe. The U.S. and other Western powers have previously said that all evidence points to separatists having downed MH17, while Ukraine said today that the loss of MH17 stemmed from a “planned terrorist act.”

The Dutch report will be closely scrutinized, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, while criticizing the investigators for a “lack of due level of cooperation” and failing to engage adequately with specialists in Russia. Buk rocket maker Almaz-Antey OAO said Tuesday that its own study, which included a strike on a plane on the ground to simulate the explosion, indicated the missile involved was an old model no longer in use in Russia.

The official report identifies a lozenge-shaped region to the east of the MH17 debris field as the likely origin of the missile -- an area that Ukraine also maintains was rebel-held at the time.

Airspace confusion

Using the same data, Almaz-Antey suggests the warhead came from a smaller zone within the range specified by the Dutch which it says was partly controlled by Ukrainian government forces and partly by separatists, while Ukraine’s simulation narrows the likely launch location to just a few fields.

Ukraine should in any case have shut the skies over the war-zone, Joustra said, adding that 160 planes crossed the area on July 17, the day of the tragedy. Hennadiy Zubko, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said the government did all it could to oversee its airspace and that international criteria on closures that need to be improved.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement that no carrier had been advised against taking the route following by MH17, and that the loss of the aircraft had resulted from a “murderous act.”

Russia this year blocked moves for a United Nations tribunal to try suspects over the downing of MH17. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said today that the Netherlands will continue to seek to bring those responsible to justice, while a statement from the White House said the U.S.’s assessment that the plane was targeted from rebel territory is unchanged.

The Boeing jet had been carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew on its final flight. More than 190 of them were Dutch, with Malaysians making up the next biggest category. The dead also included people from Australia, Indonesia, the U.K., Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand.

Special Reports /

Flight M17 downed by Buk fired from East Ukraine, Dutch say

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