(Adds second official, details)
WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - The United States believes a surface-to-air missile brought down the Malaysian airliner that crashed on Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing all 295 people aboard, two U.S. officials said.
One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the origin of the missile was unclear. The official declined further comment.
But a second official said Washington strongly suspected the missile was fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow. There is no evidence that Ukrainian government forces fired a missile or have any missile systems missing, the second official said.
Ukraine accused "terrorists" - militants fighting to unite eastern Ukraine with Russia - of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with a heavy Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile as the plane flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Warren Strobel; Editing by Jason Szep, Bill Trott and Peter Cooney)
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