President Putin vows revenge for terror attack, with Russia launching heavy airstrikes over Islamic State 'capital' Raqqa; in Egypt, two airport employees arrested on suspicion they helped plant bomb.
A homemade explosive device brought down a Russian passenger plane over Egypt last month, the head of Russia's FSB security service said Tuesday, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin it's now clear the bombing that killed 224 people was a "terrorist" act.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for downing the Russian plane in written statements, as well as video and audio messages posted on the Internet following the crash.
"According to our experts, a homemade explosive device equivalent to one kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, which explains why the fuselage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act," FSB head Alexander Bortnikov said.
Wreckage of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in the Sinai in October. (Photo: AP)
He said tests showed the explosives had been produced outside of Russia, but gave no further details.
All of the people on board, most of them Russian tourists, were killed when the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, about 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The plane was headed to St. Petersburg, where most of the passengers were from.
In Cairo, there was no immediate comment on the news from the Egyptian government. State-owned television carried the newsbreak from Moscow, but had no official comment either.
Egypt had resisted British and US assertions that an explosive device was the likely cause of the Russian plane crashing. Later, government officials and pro-government media shifted their focus away from the cause of the crash to speculating on what they called a Western conspiracy against Egypt and the crushing impact of the crash on the country's vital tourism industry.
Meanwhile, two security officials said on Tuesday that Egyptian authorities have detained two employees of Sharm al-Sheikh airport in connection with the downing of the plane.
"Seventeen people are being held, two of them are suspected of helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane at Sharm al-Sheikh airport," one of the officials said.
"According to our experts, a homemade explosive device equivalent to one kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, which explains why the fuselage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act," FSB head Alexander Bortnikov said.
Wreckage of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in the Sinai in October. (Photo: AP)
He said tests showed the explosives had been produced outside of Russia, but gave no further details.
All of the people on board, most of them Russian tourists, were killed when the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, about 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The plane was headed to St. Petersburg, where most of the passengers were from.
In Cairo, there was no immediate comment on the news from the Egyptian government. State-owned television carried the newsbreak from Moscow, but had no official comment either.
Egypt had resisted British and US assertions that an explosive device was the likely cause of the Russian plane crashing. Later, government officials and pro-government media shifted their focus away from the cause of the crash to speculating on what they called a Western conspiracy against Egypt and the crushing impact of the crash on the country's vital tourism industry.
Meanwhile, two security officials said on Tuesday that Egyptian authorities have detained two employees of Sharm al-Sheikh airport in connection with the downing of the plane.
"Seventeen people are being held, two of them are suspected of helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane at Sharm al-Sheikh airport," one of the officials said.
It was not immediately clear what role the employees had at the airport, which is Egypt's third-busiest, handling a vast number of charter and budget flights for tourists seeking sea and sun in the southern Sinai peninsula.
Egypt's interior minister denied that two workers had been arrested, however.
Credit to Ynet News
Egypt's interior minister denied that two workers had been arrested, however.
Credit to Ynet News
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