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France has "from the start" ruled out that an Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali was shot down from the ground, Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said today.
"We have excluded from the start the possibility of a strike from the ground," he said on French television, rejecting speculation that the jet with 116 people on board, including 51 French nationals, could have been shot down by rebels in Mali's restive north.
