Police team turns back from Ukraine crash site
By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV, Associated Press
Jul 28, 2014 5:18 AM CDT
A Donetsk People's Republic APC travels in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Sunday, July 27, 2014. Ukrainian armed forces mounted a major onslaught against pro-Russian separatist fighters Sunday in an attempt to gain control over the area where a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed earlier this month....   (Associated Press)

SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine (AP) — An international police team has failed to reach the crash site of a Malaysian Airlines plane for a second day running as clashes rage in a town on the road to the area.

A delegation of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts stopped Monday in Shakhtarsk, a town around 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the fields where the aircraft was downed.

Sounds of regular shelling could be heard from Shakhtarsk and residents were fleeing town in cars.

AP reporters saw a high-rise apartment block in the town being hit by at least two rounds of artillery.

The mandate of the police team is to secure the currently rebel-controlled area so that comprehensive investigations can begin and any remaining bodies be recovered.

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