Authorities may have found proof that a bomb set with a timer was responsible for the downing of a Russian jetliner that killed 224 people recently.
Officials said Wednesday they now have intelligence information suggesting the jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by an explosive device aboard the plane, and that a timed detonation was likely used.
Intercepted communications have led to the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group’s Sinai affiliate may have planted the device, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said there was a “significant possibility” the crash was caused by a bomb, and Britain was suspending flights to and from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh indefinitely.
After a meeting of the British government’s crisis committee, COBRA, Hammond said Britain was advising its citizens not to go on vacation to Sharm el-Sheikh, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of Britons a year.
Meanwhile, Russian and Egyptian investigators said Wednesday that the cockpit voice recorder of the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 had suffered substantial damage in the weekend crash that killed 224 people. Information from the flight data recorder has been successfully copied and handed over to investigators, the Russians added.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said British aviation experts had been sent to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight originated, to assess security before British flights there would be allowed to resume.
Several British flights due to leave Sharm el-Sheikh for the U.K. Wednesday were grounded, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded.
Cameron’s 10 Downing St. office said late Wednesday that the team’s preliminary report “noted that the Egyptian authorities had stepped up their efforts but that more remains to be done.”
Downing Steet said it could not say “categorically” why the Russian jet had crashed.
“But as more information has come to light, we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device,” it said in a statement.
Cameron had discussed the issue of security at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who flew to Britain on Wednesday for an official visit, Downing Street said.
The British disclosures were an embarrassment to el-Sissi, who had insisted in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday that the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under “full control.” He has staked his legitimacy on restoring stability and reviving Egypt’s economy.
The suspension of flights is a further blow to Egypt’s troubled tourism industry, which has suffered in the unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring. The one bright spot for Egypt has been tourism at the Red Sea resorts.
Several airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France, stopped flying over Sinai after the crash, but British carriers had kept to their schedules. Almost 1 million Britons visit Egypt each year, many to Sharm el-Sheikh, which is also popular with Russians.
The Metrojet flight carrying mostly Russian vacationers from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg broke up in the air at an altitude of 31,000 feet 23 minutes after takeoff and came down in the Sinai desert, Russian officials said.
The plane crash site, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the city of el-Arish, lies in the northern Sinai, where Egyptian security forces have for years battled local Islamic militants.
Two U.S. officials told the AP on Tuesday that U.S. satellite imagery detected heat around the jet just before it went down.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Knowing what we know about all of these security states, it’s more likely that a some rogue operation in Yemen, rerouted the airplane to a lower altitude and then a UK surface to air missile took down this aircraft. And that’s why the leaders in the US and UK are early on making comments on something that should be left to the investigators. They are doing damage control. They should be investigated.
You’ve got to be kidding!
Eric, you are an idiot.
What a stupid comment.
Idiot!
Eric Bischoff. Did you use to work for WCW, WWE, and TNA as a writer? The reason I ask is because your comment sounds like something right out of that venue.
Everyone is guessing that it was a bomb that brought down the Russian air liner, but no concrete evidence that it was a bomb. If it was an explosive that caused the the airliner to crash then there would be traces of Powder, burn marks on parts of the aircraft. This has become a scare tactic . Has any one ever thought that it could have been a meteor or that it could have been a problem with the tail section that caused the tail section to separate from the aircraft and causing it to sound like an explosion ?
Enough of this guessing .
Can I have whatever you have been smoking?
Did you ever eat a (could have) sandwich?
…and back in the USA – according to former high level official – TSA is hiring without proper vetting? Look around on your next airport visit. It’s very interesting.
A TSA agent or airport employee are prime and coveted jobs for these middle-east migrants. This way they don’t have to blow themselves up to get the result they are after.
I wonder how many have been through same timer class as Clockmed the boy genius? Funny how the 2 stories emerge just weeks apart…
Going on holiday to Egypt is playing Russian roulette (no pun intended). They butchered 62 tourists, amongst them 36 Swiss in Luxor in 1997. That was before Bush, Iraq and all the rest and Swiss never did anything to Egypt. I’ll never set foot in a muslim country and they’ll not get my money.
Anyone who is traveling to these war torn areas (military excepted) should not EXPECT any rescue efforts in the event the shi* hits the fan. They were stupid to travel there in the first place.
I totally agree
What all this means is that the TSA (Thugs Standing Around) agents will now begin body cavity searches. More power to more morons.
Best to stay home then. Great. Just when I am getting the urge to travel.
I agree Fabian, Muslim countries are definitely a no no for visiting!! I’ll not turn my back on them anywhere!!!!
Hopefully the cause for the jet’s downing will be discovered and the murderers caught. They can then be turned over to Russia. I suspect President Putin will see that their lives are short and their end is miserable.
need to be miserable. This is murder on a grand scale. I think all his/thier associates should be burned. Genocide in some areas may be the only solution. Egypt may have to start dealing with “militants” in that mode. Quit screwing around and destroy.
I have a brother in law named Bischoff that is going to vote for H Clinton. Tells you just how much brains the Bischoff,s have.
You show your ignorance,
deficient in brains I’d say. But liberal is a disease which needs to be eradicated by whatever means required.
Bob, I have some family members in TN. that will vote for this homo no matter what, so don,t fell left out.
PRESIDENT PUTIN WILL CLEAN UP THE TRASH! NO WEAKNESS WITH HIM
Guess what – the ISLAMIC radical BARBARIANS are no bombing planes . //////////////////////////////
VLADIMIR PUTIN will not put-up with this – thee ISMALIM BARBARIANS are in for a rood awakening shortly from the RUSSIAN ARMY – – that will be very vicious and quick when it happens . ////////////////////////////////////
OBOOOOMA – the magnificent FARCE – wont lift a finger to help PUTIN in any way to hurt his ISLAMIC BROTHERHOOD BUDDIES either . ////////////////////////////////
We all need to get behind a presidential candidate who can help bring worldwide peace and financial stability back again. Donald Trump is an experienced negotiator and means what he says and acts accordingly.
Consider the possibility that the plane was struck by a “small” meteriote.
As, I read and have read ALL of these CRAZY posts it is REALLY scary out here on the [internet], almost as scary as in the air. Is it any wonder due to the facts, that 3 states have ok’d the use of POT. We are in BIG TROUBLE…….honest!
As, I have read these post’s, I have to ask the question[s], are we as a country, really as screwed up, as some of these posts.
The answer to your question is “yes,” Vincent. As a conservative, it troubles me deeply when I read the silly and stupid posts from my fellow conservatives here at The Horn News. Many of them sound like the writer hasn’t got a single brain cell. I take small comfort from the fact that comments coming from liberals posting here are every bit as Looney Tunes as those coming from conservatives. (See Eric Bischoff’s comment about this plane being brought down by a UK surface-to-air missle.) Yes, Vincent, we are a country with MANY wackos and the comments on this website prove that.