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

The object shot down over the US state of Alaska was the size of a 'small car', White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]

The United States has shot down an object “roughly the size of a small car” over the northwestern state of Alaska, US officials said, stressing that 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 after it spent several days crossing the country. Beijing has said the device was a weather research aircraft that had “accidentally” blown into American airspace.