US says it shot down ‘high-altitude object’ over Alaska | Politics News

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Official says Washington does not know who owns the object, days after an alleged Chinese ‘spy’ balloon flew over US.

The United States has shot down an object “roughly the size of a small car” over the northwestern state of Alaska, a White House spokesman announced, saying its origins were not immediately known.

The incident on Friday came less than a week after US forces brought down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that had entered American airspace. Beijing has said the device was a weather research aircraft that had blown off-course.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Friday’s object was flying at 12,000m (40,000 ft) over Alaska, posing a threat to civilian aviation, and it was brought down at the orders of US President Joe Biden.

“We don’t know who owns this object,” Kirby said during a news conference, adding that it was significantly smaller than the Chinese balloon that flew over the country last week.

“We’re calling this an object, because that’s the best description we have right now,” he said. “We don’t have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object.”

More to follow…