Britain said on Thursday there was a significant possibility that ISIS’ Egyptian affiliate was behind a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner that killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.
Britain said on Thursday there was a significant possibility that ISIS’ Egyptian affiliate was behind a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner that killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.
Russia dismissed the claim as speculation and Egypt said there was no indication so far that a bomb was to blame.
The topic is sensitive for Russia, whose warplanes have launched raids against ISIS in Syria, and for Egypt, which depends heavily on revenues from tourism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the investigation into the crash of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt at the weekend, the Kremlin said in a statement on Thursday.
The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had told Mr Cameron how important it was that assessments of the possible causes of the crash be based on information from the official investigation.
Mr Cameron said they were working extensively together with Egypt on the Sharm al-Sheikh crash.
Asked if he thought ISIS was responsible, foreign secretary Philip Hammond said: “ISIS-Sinai have claimed responsibility for bringing down the Russian aircraft, they did that straight away after the crash. We’ve looked at the whole information picture, including that claim, but of course lots of other bits of information as well, and concluded that there is a significant possibility,” he said.
Mr Cameron said it was more likely than not that a bomb was to blame.
“We cannot be certain that the Russian airliner was brought down by a terrorist bomb, but it looks increasingly likely that that was the case,” Mr Cameron said.
US and European security sources say evidence now suggests that a bomb planted by ISIS’ Egypt affiliate — Sinai Province — was the likely cause of the crash. Sources said they reached no final conclusions about the crash.
Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands banned flights to and from Sharm al-Sheikh, where the doomed flight originated, while Germany urged travellers to avoid the Sinai Peninsula.
“Theories about what happened and the causes of the incident can only be pronounced by the investigation,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Mr Putin.
British low-cost airline EasyJet cancelled its scheduled flight from Milan’s Malpensa airport to the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh amid security fears.
US Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House homeland security committee, said on Thursday evidence so far indicates there was an ISIS bomb attack on the Russian passenger plane.
Russia buried the first victims of the plane crash in Egypt on Thursday, with hundreds of mourners laying flowers and lighting candles for the dead in ceremonies around the country. At the funeral service for one victim relatives and friends said they wanted to grieve, not apportion blame.
ISIS has called for war against both Russia and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria. The hardline group, which also has a presence in Egypt’s neighbor Libya, is waging a campaign of suicide bombings and shootings in Egypt designed to topple the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The Egyptian leader is currently on a state visit to Britain, which like other Western powers sees Cairo as critical to efforts to counter militancy.
A senior Russian lawmaker said Britain’s decision to stop flights from Sharm was motivated by London’s opposition to Russia’s actions in Syria, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
“There is geopolitical opposition to the actions of Russia in Syria,” said Konstantin Kosachev, a senior member of Russia’s upper house of parliament, when asked about Britain’s decision.
If a bomb killed the 224 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A321 (AIR.PA), that would almost certainly undermine Egypt’s tourism industry, which is still recovering from years of political turmoil.
At Sharm airport, security appeared to have been tightened on Thursday with security forces patrolling the terminals and not allowing drivers, tour agents or others to loiter while awaiting tourist arrivals, a witness said.
