America shoot down China 'spy' balloon over di Atlantic

America don shoot down one giant Chinese balloon wey dem say bin dey spy on key military sites across US.

Di Department of Defence confam say im fighter jets bring down di balloon over US territorial waters.

China foreign ministry later express "strong dissatisfaction and protest against di US use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft".

Footage on US TV networks show di balloon dey fall enta di sea afta one small explosion.

One F-22 jet fighter engage di high-altitude balloon with one missile - an AIM-9X Sidewinder - and e go down about six nautical miles off di US coast at 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT), one defence official tell reporters.

Defence officials tell US media say di remains land inside 47ft (14m) of water - wey dey shallower dan dem bin expect - near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Di military now dey try to recover di remains wey dey spread over seven miles (11km). Two naval ships, including one with heavy crane for recovery, dey di area.

Inside one Pentagon statement, one senior US defence official say, "while we take all di necessary steps to protect against di PRC [China] surveillance balloon collection of sensitive information, di surveillance balloon overflight of US territory dey of intelligence value to us.

"We dey able to study and chook eye inside di balloon and im equipment, wey don dey valuable," di official add.

US President Joe Biden bin dey under pressure to shoot di balloon down since defence officials first announce say dem dey track am it on Thursday.

Afta dem shoot di balloon down, Mr Biden say: "Dem successfully take am down, and I wan compliment our aviators who do am."

Inside one statement a few hours later, di Chinese foreign ministry say: "Di Chinese side don repeatedly inform di US side afta verification say di airship na for civilian use and enter di US due to force majeure - dem say na complete accident."

Di discovery of di balloon bin set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wey immediately cancel dis weekend trip to China over di "irresponsible act".

Di Chinese authorities don deny say na spying aircraft, and instead say na weather ship wey enta US by mistake.

Reacting to di incident, Taiwan foreign ministry tok for statement say: "Di Chinese Communist Party goment actions wey violate international law and violate di airspace and sovereignty of oda kontries no suppose dey tolerated in a civilised international community."

China consider self-ruled Taiwan a breakaway province wey go eventually dey under Beijing control. President Xi Jinping never rule out di possible use of force to achieve di goal.


But Taiwan see imself as independent, with im own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.

President Biden first approve di plan to down di balloon on Wednesday, but di Pentagon say e bin decide to wait until di object bin dey over water so as not to put pipo wey dey ground under undue risk.

Groundwork for di operation dey laid down wen di US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly pause all civilian flights for three airports around di South Carolina coast on Saturday afternoon because of a "national security effort".

Di coast guard also advise mariners to comot di area due to military operations "wey present a significant hazard".

One eyewitness wey dey di coast, Hayley Walsh, tell BBC News say she see three fighter jets dey go in a circle before dem fire di missile, den "we hear a big boom, di house shake".

One senior military official tell CNN say di recovery of di balloon remains suppose dey "fairly easy" and fit take "relatively short time". Di official add say "capable Navy divers" fit dey deployed to assist in di operation.

Defence officials also reveal on Saturday say di balloon bin first enter US airspace on 28 January near di Aleutian Islands, before moving to Canadian airspace three days later, and re-entering di US on 31 January. Di object bin dey spotted for di US state of Montana, wey be home to a number of sensitive nuclear missile sites.

Relations between China and di US don dey somehow sake of di incident, wit Pentagon wey call am an "unacceptable violation" of US sovereignty.

Mr Blinken - America top diplomat - tell Beijing say "na irresponsible act" ahead of im now-cancelled trip on 5-6 February - e for be di first of such high level US-China meeting dia for years.

But China dey look to play down di cancellation of im visit, dem tok for statement on Saturday say neither side bin don formally announce a plan for a trip.

China foreign ministry say Beijing "no go accept any groundless tori or hype" and accuse "some politicians and media inside United States" of using di incident "as a pretext to attack and bad mouth China."

On Friday, di Pentagon say dem spot a second Chinese spy balloon - dis time over Latin America with reported sightings over Costa Rica and Venezuela.

Colombia Air Force say dem detect an identified object - wey dem believe to be a balloon - on 3 February for di kontri airspace at above 55,000ft.

E say dem follow di object until e comot di airspace, adding say e no represent a threat to national security.

China never yet commented publicly on di reported second balloon.