Russian Airliner crashes in the Sinai desert, 224 people mati, karma for Putin

Viper · Nov 4, 2015

Spotlight on IS after claim it downed Russian jet

AFP
November 3, 2015, 6:25 am

Cairo (AFP) - Despite a lack of evidence for the claim, the Islamic State group has stepped into the spotlight by saying it downed a Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt killing 224 people.

Experts say the jihadist group, whose local affiliate is waging an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, has managed to instil doubt about the cause of the crash in the rugged desert terrain.

Both Cairo and Moscow have downplayed the suggestion that an attack brought down the Kogalymavia Airbus A-321, and US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he knew of no "direct evidence" that terrorism was to blame but did not rule out the possibility.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged patience until the results of a "complicated" investigation into the cause of the tragedy.

Experts say the fact that debris and bodies were strewn over such a wide area points to mid-air disintegration of the aircraft.

On Saturday, the Airbus took off at dawn from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh bound for Saint Petersburg, but disappeared from radar screens over Sinai after just 23 minutes into the flight.

Kogalymavia said on Monday that the crew "totally lost control" of the plane.

Analysts have dismissed claims the jet could have been shot down by IS-affiliated groups if it was flying at its cruising height of 30,000 feet (9,000 metres).

That left two possibilities -- a technical fault that caused the plane to disintegrate, or an explosion caused by a bomb smuggled on board.

- Propaganda victory -

Kogalymavia that operated the charter flight insisted on Monday the disaster was caused by "external" factors, raising the possibility of a bomb.

"What the Egyptian affiliate of IS has achieved is that it has shaped the narrative about what happened to the plane," said Professor Fawaz Gerges from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

"That's what matters to IS -- to show its capability, its invincibility when it comes to convince its support base that it is powerful to get vengeance against its enemies, particularly Russia."

The "Sinai Province" group, the Egyptian affiliate of IS, claimed that it brought down the jet in revenge for Russian air strikes against its jihadists in Syria.

Analysts said the longer it takes for investigators to determine the cause of the crash, the more it helps IS propaganda.

"In terms of perception, it's certainly a temporary win for ISIS, in that they managed to control the public discussion for a while," said HA Hellyer, Arab affairs specialist at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

IS could not have shot down the plane, he said, but did not rule out a bomb on board.

"The possibility that ISIS managed to get down the plane with an explosive device on board is theoretically possible, but that would raise other questions about security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport," Hellyer said.

"But to bring down a plane at that altitude you need a physical support base and ISIS does not have such a base -? at least in that area where the plane came down."

- IS claim 'credible' -

The arid peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip has long been a breeding ground for militancy, which swelled into an insurgency led by IS after Egypt's army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The claim by Sinai Province "is credible", said Mathieu Guidere, a terrorism expert at the University of Toulouse in France.

"The Twitter account and the other sites that have published the claim have never published anything false. The statement also carries the same style as other statements from the group."

Whatever the cause of the crash, the hardest blow could be to Egypt's economy, which depends heavily on tourism revenues.

Millions of tourists, including many Russians, flock to Sharm el-Sheikh, a major attraction famed for its pristine beaches and scuba diving.

"It's here that the IS story has a direct impact on the tourism industry, which is already burdened from four years of complications and instability," said Gerges.

Russian tour operators believe the impact of the tragedy will be not be long-term as Egypt remains their main destination.

"If the version about a terrorist attack is confirmed, that will raise more concern," said Yury Barzykin, vice president of the Russian Tour Industry Union.

"But even then, if security measures are taken and widely announced, then there won't be a critical drop."

Viper · Nov 4, 2015

U.S. detects heat around doomed Russian jet before it crashed in Egyptian desert

Dmitry Lovetsky, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 10:47 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 02:17 PM EST

The Russian airplane crash site on the Sinai Peninsula is pictured in this handout photo satellite image provided by Russian Emergencies Ministry on November 1, 2015. An Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, carrying 224 passengers crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard. The fact that fragments of the Russian airplane were scattered over a wide area suggests that the Airbus A321 broke up in the air at a great altitude, Alexander Neradko, head of Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia told Russia 24 television, Interfax reported on Sunday. REUTERS/Press Service of Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- U.S. satellite systems detected heat around a Russian passenger jet before it crashed in Egypt and killed all 224 people aboard, two U.S. officials said Tuesday.

One of the officials said they ruled out a missile striking the Metrojet Airbus A321-200 because neither a launch nor an engine burn had been detected.

The infrared activity that was detected could mean many things, including a bomb or that an engine on the plane exploded because of a malfunction.

Aviation analyst Paul Beaver said the heat picked up by the satellite "indicates that there was a catastrophic explosion or disintegration of the airplane," but doesn't reveal what caused it.

"It doesn't tell us if it was a bomb ... or if somebody had a fight in the airplane with a gun -- there is a whole raft of things that could happen in this regard," he said.

He said it also could indicate a fuel tank or engine exploding, although "engines are designed so that if something malfunctions or breaks off it is contained within the engine."

Both U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the information publicly.

Some aviation experts earlier suggested a bomb was the most likely cause of Saturday's crash, while some others pointed at a 2001 incident in which the jet damaged its tail during landing.

In Egypt, an international team of experts prepared to analyze the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The joint investigation committee, which includes Egyptian and Russian experts as well as representatives from Ireland, where the plane was registered, will conclude its last field inspection at the crash site by the end of the day Tuesday and start working on the black boxes, said Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal.

Kamal says it "will take some time" to produce the final report and that the committee "has all the tools and experts to deal with the investigation."

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in televised remarks that Russian experts already had conducted a preliminary inspection of the two "black boxes" and had seen information from Egypt's flight control radars, but he wouldn't mention any further details.

The Metrojet flight was en route from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg when it crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after breaking up at high altitude, Russian aviation officials said. All of the victims, except for four Ukrainians and one Belarusian citizen, were Russian vacationers flying home.

Islamic State militants said shortly after the crash that they had "brought down" the Russian plane because of Moscow's recent military intervention in Syria against the extremist group. But the group did not provide any evidence to back up its claim, and militants in northern Sinai have not shot down any commercial airliners or fighter jets.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi insisted that the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under "full control" and that claims by the Islamic State group that it downed the plane were "propaganda" aimed at damaging the country's image.

In an interview broadcast Tuesday by the BBC, el-Sissi also reiterated his assertion that the cause of the crash may not be known for months and that, until then, there should be no speculation about it.

Alexei Smirnov of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said 140 bodies and more than 100 body parts were delivered to St. Petersburg on two government planes on Monday and Tuesday and that a third plane is expected to bring more remains later on Tuesday. Families on Tuesday identified the first 10 victims.

Mourners continued to come to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport to lay flowers, toys and other tributes to the dead. On the outskirts of town, tearful families of the victims left a crematorium where the identification procedures are taking place.

Alexander Agafonov, head of the Russian rescue mission in Egypt, said in a televised conference with other officials that searchers have not found a single additional body Tuesday after combing a 28 square-kilometre (10.8 square-mile) area. Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said the site "should be studied centimetre by centimetre."

"If you need to sift through the sand where the remains or pieces of the fuselage could be, do it," he said.

Viper · Nov 5, 2015

UK says bomb may have downed Russian jet

AAP
November 5, 2015, 6:31 am

Britain says it's concerned that a Russian airliner which crashed in Sinai may have been downed by a bomb, prompting it to temporarily suspend flights from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed," Prime Minister David Cameron's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"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."

A Russian aviation source has told Reuters an investigation into the crash is looking into the possibility of an object stowed on board causing the disaster.

"There are two versions now under consideration: something stowed inside (the plane) and a technical fault," the source said on Wednesday.

The UK's announcement came during a visit to Britain by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and four days after the Russian Airbus crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Militants from the Islamic State group have said they were responsible for downing the plane but provided no details, prompting scepticism about the claim.

IS's Egyptian affiliate on Wednesday said in a Twitter audio message "we will disclose the mechanism of its demise at the time that we want".

British aviation experts have been dispatched to Sharm el-Sheikh to assess the security situation and flights back to Britain from the resort are being held until the assessment is completed as expected later on Wednesday, the statement said.

"We recognise that this information may cause concern for those in Sharm and indeed for those planning to travel to Sharm in the coming days," Downing Street said.

"We have deployed extra consular staff to Sharm who will be on hand at the airport, working with the airlines, to assist British holidaymakers there."

"We would underline that this is a precautionary step and we are working closely with the airlines on this approach."

Cameron will also hold an emergency cabinet meeting on the issue on Wednesday.

The statement did not mention if any restrictions would be made on flights to Sharm, as compared to flights from the resort.

Around 900,000 Britons travel to Egypt every year and at least two flights had been due to leave Sharm el-Sheikh for British airports later on Wednesday.

There were no more scheduled flights from Britain to the resort on Wednesday.

The BBC estimated there were around 2000 British holidaymakers currently in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Viper · Nov 5, 2015

Russian plane crash: US intelligence says bomb was planted by Islamic State as Britain suspends Sharm el-Sheikh flights

It is believed there are 20,000 Brits in Sharm El-Sheikh who may have to be evacuated, as pressure placed on Egypt and Russian authorities following No 10 announcement

By David Lawler, and Isabelle Fraser with Raf Sanchez in Cairo, Magdy Samaan in Sharm El Sheikh, and Roland Oliphant in St Petersburg
10:43PM GMT 04 Nov 2015

• US intelligence: Isil bomb 'most likely' explanation for crash
• Isil-affiliated group releases new message claiming responsibility
• UK tourists stranded as all flights to Sharm are cancelled
• Bodies of those killed did not have explosive residue on them
• Egyptian doctor claims one in five of the corpses had been badly burned
• Crew did not have time to send a distress signal, reports suggest

Hammond: "only essential travel" to Sharm as "significant possibility" crash caused by bomb

Following the Cobra meeting today, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said there was a "significant possibility that that crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft".

"Unfortunately and very reluctantly we have concluded we have to change our travel advice and are now advising against all but essential travel by air through Sharm el-Sheikh airport," he said. "That means there will be no UK passenger flights out to Sharm el-Sheikh from now."

Mr Hammond said the UK would help passengers currently in Sharm el-Sheikh return to the UK, and that the UK would work work Egyptian authorties to improve airport security.

Below is a partial transcript of his remarks:

I recognise that this action will cause immense disruption and inconvenience to many people and I apologise for the people this evening who have gone out to the airport and now have to go back to their hotels.

Phillip Hammond speaks following the emergency government meeting to discuss the Sharm el Sheikh plane crashPhillip Hammond speaks following the emergency government meeting to discuss the Sharm el Sheikh plane crash Photo: BBC

I also recognise the immense impact this will have on the Egyptian economy but we have to put the safety and security of British nationals above all other considerations. When we are in possession of information we will not hesitate to act on it to protect the security of British nationals.

We don't talk about specific intelligence. We have looked at the broad picture available to us and concluded that there is a significant possibility that the Russian aircraft was brought down by an explosive on board.

Viper · Nov 7, 2015

'External factors' blamed for Sinai crash as theories fly, but the truth remains elusive while Russians mourn victims in St Petersburg

External impact blamed as Russian authorities hose down theories as to why a plane crashed in Egypt

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 03 November, 2015, 10:08pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 03 November, 2015, 10:51pm

The Washington Post

Egyptian Military cars approach the tail wreckage of the Metrojet Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai desert. Photo: AP

Scraps of tantalizing but inconclusive evidence surfaced Tuesday in the fourth day of a tense investigation into the Russian plane that crashed over Egypt's troubled Sinai Peninsula last weekend, killing all 224 aboard.

Investigators have not yet officially said whether the plane disintegrated in mid-air over the Sinai, scattering debris over seven square miles of desert, due to a technical malfunction, act of terror, or another reason.

A couple at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg. Photo: AP

A public quarrel erupted Monday after Metrojet, the small Russian airline scrambling to protect its reputation after the devastating crash, said that external factors were the cause of the plane's disintegration rather than technical issues or pilot error.

Russian government officials responded with a swift rebuke that it was both premature and without foundation to speculate on what caused the crash, wanting to contain speculation - and potential embarassment - over what led to the deadliest civil aviation disaster in Russia's history.

On Tuesday morning, Russia's Interfax news service, citing a source in the investigation, said there were no signs of a malfunction with the plane and that pilots were chatting normally with air-traffic controllers until four minutes before an “emergency situation occurred on board unexpectedly.”

Victims of a Metrojet plane crash in Egypt are represented in tributes laid at Dvortsovaya Square in St. Petersburg, Russia Photo: AP

“In the recordings, sounds uncharacteristic of a standard flight precede the moment of the airliner's disappearance from radar screens,” the news service reported without elaboration. “The pilots had no time to send out a distress signal.”

Metrojet said Monday there were no signs of an“external impact,” however, meaning a missile or other projectile.

Russia continued Tuesday to repatriate the remains of its citizens who died aboard the Airbus 320-200 Saturday shortly after take-off from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on its way to St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.

What happened in those last four minutes of flight remains a mystery.

A devastated scene, but still unclear outcomes from the mysterious crash in the Sinai peninsula. Photo: Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP

Several American television stations reported Monday evening that U.S. intelligence satellites had captured a “heat flash” over the Sinai Peninsula at the moment of the crash, signalling some sort of explosion either from a bomb, missile, or from the fuel on board the aircraft.

The answer to the crash is fraught with consequences for both Russia and Egypt.

If it was a technical malfunction of the aircraft, it implicates Russia's troubled airline industry. If it was the result of a sophisticated terrorist attack, it implies that aircraft are not safe over Egyptian soil.

“When there is propaganda that it [the plane] crashed because of ISIS, this is one way to damage the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt,” Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi told the British Broadcasting Corporation in an interview, in a reference to the Islamic State militant group. “Believe me, the situation in Sinai - especially in this limited area - is under our full control.”

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry employees pass a truck loading the bodies of the victims in St.Petersburg. Photo: EPA

Russia began launching airstrikes in Syria a little over one month ago, and is concerned about blowback. The suggestion that the airline was targeted by terrorists, possibly because of the country's intervention in Syria's civil war, is fraught with consequences for Russia.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo instructed its staff Tuesday not to travel anywhere in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as a “precautionary measure,” pending the outcome of the investigation, the Associated Press reported from Egypt.

An Egyptian government spokesman said Monday it would take two to four weeks to study the black boxes retrieved from the plane and provide a full report on what caused the jetliner to crash.

The head of Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, said in a television interview from Egypt that investigators have not reviewed the black boxes yet.

Pictures of wreckage from the crashed Airbus show a violent end to the flight. Photo: Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP

“Yes, we know that components of the plane have been thrown over a wide area. That says that the breakup took place in the air, at a high altitude,” he said. “But it is very premature to talk about the reasons. I would like to call on the aviation community to abstain from premature statements,” Neradko said.

While an Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State seized the opportunity to claim responsibility for the plane crash Saturday, Russian officials remained sceptical.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the accident “a great tragedy” Monday.

“Everything must be done to create an objective picture of what happened so that we know what happened and react accordingly,” Putin told Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov during a televised briefing on the investigation.

An Egyptian soldier stands on a road after ambulances carrying the bodies of Russian victims left the crash site. Photo: Xinhua

The claim by the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State led some international carriers to re-route flights away from the Sinai, though defence experts have raised strong doubts about whether the Islamic State could have missile systems capable of hitting an airliner at 31,000 feet.

In Washington, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said that there was no “direct evidence of terrorist involvement yet” but that it cannot be disregarded. “It's unlikely, but I wouldn't rule it out,” Clapper told reporters.

Prevailing wisdom holds that once an aeroplane reaches cruising altitude, it's clear sailing, but there have been at least half a dozen times when a commercial jetliner has fallen to pieces without help from a bomb or a missile.

As the investigation continues, there are unmistakable signs that Metrojet is in the crosshairs.

Investigators this weekend opened a probe for criminal negligence in the crash and searched Metrojet's offices. Russia's Federal Labor Agency announced Monday that the airline had not paid its employees in the past two months, indicating financial problems in the company. And a state-owned television channel broadcast an interview with the pilot's wife, who said her husband had complained about poor maintenance on the plane.

Kogalymavia, the airline trading as Metrojet, faced media scrutiny after its plane crashed. Pictured (L-R) are deputy general director for flight operation Alexander Smirnov, Kogalymavia airline deputy general director for engineering Andrei Averyanov and Tourism Holding & Consulting chairwoman Oxana Golovina. Photo: EPA

Metrojet's embattled leadership mounted a public defense Monday at a news conference in Moscow.

Alexander Smirnov, the deputy general director of the airline, said no combination of factors, including bad fuel or engine failure, could have led the plane to break up in mid-air. Metrojet officials also said that the plane was regularly reviewed for signs of structural weakening and argued that although the company had withheld wages recently, that did not affect safety standards.

“The only explanation could be a mechanical impact on the aircraft,” Smirnov said. He declined to elaborate as to what such an impact could have been.

Though Smirnov discounted the possibility that the Metrojet plane could have fatally malfunctioned, it would not be unprecedented.

Planes climb to a cruising altitude of six to seven miles above the Earth's surface because there, the air is far thinner, and against that lessened resistance they can fly faster and use less fuel.

When they reach that altitude, however, they must maximise the air pressure in the cockpit and cabin - and that puts stress on any component that has weakened over time.

“Typically, if there was that type of defect, you would expect it to manifest just as it reached the peak” altitude, said Steve Wallace, a former crash investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration.

In 1988, a hole opened in the fuselage of an Aloha Airlines plane in Hawaii, sucking out a flight attendant. Metal fatigue was blamed in 2002 when China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrated after take-off from a Taiwan airport, killing all 225 people on board.

“That aeroplane had an improper repair after a tail strike,” Wallace said, “and I think this Russian aeroplane that was in the accident had had a tail strike.”

The Aviation Safety Network reported that the Metrojet plane suffered a “tail strike” in 2001, a type of incident in which an airplane's tail hits the runway. The damage took three months to repair, but the jet was certified as airworthy this year by regulators in Ireland, where it was registered.

The Metrojet crash comes as Russian airlines are facing an economic crunch that has forced Transaero, the country's second-largest airline, to file for bankruptcy. Russia's aviation authorities grounded Transaero flights recently over concerns that the airline could not maintain safety standards.

Viper · Nov 7, 2015

Obama echoes possibility that bomb could have downed Russian jet

PUBLISHED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 5:13pm
UPDATED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 9:01pm

Agence France-Presse in London

Obama raised the possibility of a bomb onboard and that it was too early to say for sure if the Russian airliner was indeed downed by a bomb. Photo: AP

US President Barack Obama raised the possibility on Thursday that a bomb brought down a Russian plane that crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, undermining efforts by Cairo and Moscow to downplay the suggestion of an attack.

With concerns over security mounting, a number of European airlines readied to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the plane took off last Saturday.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the disaster, in which the Saint Petersburg-bound jet crashed minutes after taking off, killing all 224 mainly Russian tourists on board.

“I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously,” Obama told a US radio station, while emphasising it was too early to say for sure.

In London, where David Cameron was hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the British premier told reporters it was “more likely than not that it was a terrorist bomb” that caused the crash.

And The Times newspaper reported on Friday that electronic communications intercepted by British and American spies suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.

“The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff,” the newspaper reported, without giving a source. But Egypt’s civil aviation minister Hossam Kamal said there was “as yet no evidence or data confirming the theory” of an attack and the Kremlin has dismissed the notion as “speculation”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who authorised strikes against fighters including IS militants in Syria, said assessments of the crash should be based on the “ongoing official investigation”, according to the Kremlin.

Security checks at the Egyptian airport was stepped up since the incident last week. Photo: EPA

Sisi sought to use his trip to London on Thursday to allay fears over the safety of tourists in his home country after several nations suspended flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh – leaving holidaymakers stranded while officials assessed security at the airport.

There is no global or European blanket ban and some flights have continued from the airport, but France and Belgium have warned citizens against travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh and Britain has advised against all but essential travel by air to or from the resort.

Outbound flights from Britain to Sharm el-Sheikh remain suspended but the British government authorised flights to resume from the resort on Friday to bring home an estimated 20,000 British tourists – but passengers will only be allowed to carry hand luggage.

“The government has decided, in consultation with the airlines, that flights from Sharm to the UK will resume tomorrow,” a spokeswoman for Cameron said.

“The additional security measures will include permitting passengers to carry hand baggage only and transporting hold luggage separately.”

Belgian airline Jetair announced similar measures, while British airlines easyJet and Monarch said they would lay on extra flights to get customers home.

Joining a string of airlines in avoiding Sharm el-Sheikh, the Lufthansa Group announced its subsidiary Eurowings would halt flights between Germany and the Red Sea resort, while Turkish Airlines also cancelled two flights.

Russia on Thursday began burying the first victims of the crash, with several hundred people gathering in Veliky Novgorod, south of Saint Petersburg, to mourn 60-year-old Nina Lushchenko.

Flight KGL9268 was flying at altitude of 9,150 metres when it lost contact with authorities, 23 minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh to Russia’s second city.

Experts say the fact that debris and bodies were strewn over a wide area indicates the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air, meaning the crash was likely caused by either a technical fault or an explosion on board.

IS, in claiming responsibility for the crash, said on Wednesday it would reveal how it had done so at a time of its choosing.

If confirmed, it would be the first time IS, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, has attacked a passenger plane. It has the potential to deeply damage Egypt’s tourism industry, still struggling to recover from a turbulent few years following the revolution of 2011.

Viper · Nov 7, 2015

Sinai plane crash: Russia suspends flights to Egypt as British tourists left stranded

Security has been bolstered at Sharm el-Sheikh after British and US leaders suggest a bomb may have caused the tragedy

PUBLISHED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 6:07pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 07 November, 2015, 1:29am

Associated Press

Tourists wait at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, with some flights expected to resume on Friday. Photo: EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a recommendation to suspend all Russian flights to Egypt. He has also ordered the Russian government to draft a mechanism for getting its citizens back from Egypt.

The head of the Russian intelligence agency FSB says it would be “reasonable” to suspend all Russian flights to Egypt pending the results of a probe into the cause of Saturday’s crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula.

Russian news agencies on Friday quoted Alexander Bortnikov as saying that investigators should take their time in establishing the cause of the crash. Bortnikov did not provide a timeline for the suggested suspension of flights but said it should cover all tourist flights.

The suspension, covering all of Egypt, is even more sweeping than that imposed by Britain, which had halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh only.

Budget airline easyJet says two flights have taken off from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh airport and are en route to London, carrying 359 vacationers who had been stranded at the Red Sea resort after British authorities grounded flights.

Earlier, the airline said Egyptian authorities had suspended British airlines from flying into the Sharm al-Sheikh, meaning that many of the flights planned to repatriate British tourists from the resort would no longer be able to operate.

EasyJet said that two aircraft which had already arrived in Sharm would be able to depart, but its other eight planned flights would not be able to operate.

The measures follow the crash last Saturday of Metrojet’s Airbus A321-200 that killed all 224 people on board. The plane crashed 23 minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh en route to St. Petersburg, with mostly Russian tourists aboard.

Russia and Egypt have dismissed Western suggestions that a bomb may have caused the crash, saying the speculation was a rush to judgment and insisting the investigation must run its course. The United States and British leaders have stopped short of a categorical assignment of blame in the crash, but Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday it was “more likely than not” that the cause was a bomb.

The crash prompted companies to ground flights from and to the Red Sea resort, stranding thousands of tourists this week.

Before Egypt’s decision to suspend all flights from the resort on Friday, EasyJet had said it would run nine flights from the Red Sea airport to London and one to Milan, while Monarch would have two scheduled flights and three additional flights. Neither carrier was operating passenger flights from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh.

On Friday morning, dozens of buses waited outside the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, the line stretching up to a kilometre as police inspected each vehicle, ferrying mostly Russian and British tourists to the airport.

Britain had said that additional security measures would be in place, including only allowing passengers to carry hand baggage, while checked luggage would be transported separately. The carry-on measure applied only to those departing from Sharm el-Sheikh, British officials said.

A child plays with a toy gun in the departure area before boarding a flight from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Photo: AP

Inside the crowded airport, British tourists said on Friday they were just anxious to get home.

“We were in the first flights that were cancelled Wednesday night, we were already queuing to board,” said Amy Johnson, a 27-year-old British administrative assistant hoping to catch one of Friday's EasyJet flights out of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Standing in a crush of hundreds waiting to pass through security, Johnson said she didn't feel that British authorities had adequately supported the stranded tourists. “We’re being left to deal with this ourselves.”

Another tourist, Terrance Mathurian, a British builder travelling with his family, said they were told by hotel staff in the morning to head to the airport, following conflicting information. Looking at the long security line, he said that he “can understand why they have this situation here but personally, we’ve had no problems at all”.

Relatives attend the funeral of one of the victims of the Sinai plane crash in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo: AP

In an unusual decision, Dutch carrier KLM said it had instructed its passengers leaving from the Egyptian capital of Cairo that they could only take hand luggage on the plane departing on Friday. A statement on KLM’s website said the measure was “based on national and international information and out of precaution”.

There were no further details and it was unclear why such measures would be imposed at the Cairo airport. KLM, which has no direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, did not elaborate on what their measure was based and nothing had been revealed so far from the ongoing investigation.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama said the US was taking “very seriously” the possibility that a bomb brought down the plane.

The Islamic State group, which has not generally pursued “spectacular” attacks outside its base in Syria, has claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane, but Russian and Egyptian officials say the claim was not credible. Russia is conducting an air war in Syria against Islamic State militants who have promised retaliation.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Viper · Nov 7, 2015

Russian plane black boxes point to 'attack', Putin halts flights

AFP
November 7, 2015, 5:21 am

Paris (AFP) - An analysis of black boxes from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt point to a bomb attack, sources close to the probe said Friday, as Moscow halted flights to the country.

The flight data and voice recorders showed "everything was normal" until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff, pointing to "a very sudden explosive decompression," one source said.

The data "strongly favours" the theory a bomb on board had brought down the plane, he added.

Another source said the plane had gone down suddenly and violently.

Meanwhile, British airlines were scrambling to evacuate passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling flights to the Red Sea resort from which the doomed Airbus had taken off Saturday.

One of the black boxes recovered from the crash site showed that the plane suffered "a violent, sudden" end, a source close to the case in Paris told AFP.

The flight data recorder showed that "everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing".

President Vladimir Putin ordered flights halted on the recommendation from his security chief, the Kremlin said, although Moscow had previously downplayed reports that a bomb caused the crash.

At an emergency meeting, the head of Russia's FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, said it would be prudent to halt flights for now.

"Until we have determined the true reasons for what happened, I consider it expedient to stop flights by Russian aviation to Egypt," he said.

With international concerns mounting, European airlines prepared to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort, which has been a jewel in Egypt's tourism crown.

A first flight landed at London's Gatwick airport Friday afternoon, after a lengthy delay to its departure. Another plane was also headed for Britain.

There were angry scenes at the airport as thousands of anxious Britons, who had also hoped to fly home, were sent back to their hotels after Egypt blocked several other repatriation flights.

British Ambassador John Casson was heckled as he announced the news.

Egyptian Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said only eight of 29 flights would take off because the airport could not cope with all the luggage left behind.

In a sign of mounting fears about the security of baggage handling in Egypt, Dutch carrier KLM announced that it had banned check-in luggage on an early flight from Cairo, mirroring moves taken by several European airlines.

The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the disaster, in which all 224 on board the Saint Petersburg were killed, most of them Russian tourists.

- Bomb scenario growing -

Cairo has sought to downplay any suggestion of an attack.

But US President Barack Obama said: "I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously," while emphasising it was too early to say for sure.

In London, where David Cameron hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Thursday, the British prime minister told reporters it was "more likely than not that it was a terrorist bomb" that caused the crash.

And The Times newspaper reported Friday that electronic communications intercepted by British and US intelligence suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.

Satellites uncovered chatter between militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria, it said.

"The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff," the newspaper reported, without giving a source.

Egypt has beefed up security at airports to "give confidence to the British government, but that does not mean we concur with any scenario," foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

There is no global or European blanket ban and some flights, including all Russian ones before Putin's order Friday, have continued from the airport.

France and Belgium have warned citizens against travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh. and Britain has advised against all but essential travel by air to or from the resort.

- Holidaymakers turned away -

The British government authorised flights to resume from the resort on Friday to bring home an estimated 20,000 British tourists.

But thousands were turned away after Egypt blocked British tour operators from flying in empty aircraft to make up the backlog.

Those passengers who did fly out were allowed to carry hand luggage only, with their check-in bags to follow separately.

Joining a string of airlines in avoiding Sharm el-Sheikh, the Lufthansa Group announced its subsidiary Eurowings would halt flights between Germany and the Red Sea resort, while Turkish Airlines also cancelled two flights.

If it was behind the attack, it would be the first time IS, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, has hit a passenger plane.

The incident has the potential to deeply damage Egypt's tourism industry, still struggling to recover from a turbulent four years following its 2011 revolution.

After hearing Putin's decision to halt flights, tourism workers in Sharm el-Sheikh reeled in shock at the possible blow to their livelihood.

"It has destroyed the homes," of those working in the industry, said Ahmed Ghobashi, who works in a resort association to promote tourism.

Viper · Nov 7, 2015

Britain, US intercepted bomb 'chatter'

AAP
November 7, 2015, 3:48 am

British and US spies intercepted "chatter" from suspected militants and at least one other government suggesting that a bomb, possibly hidden in luggage in the hold, downed a Russian airliner killing all 224 people on board.

British Prime Minister David Cameron halted flights to and from Sharm al-Sheikh on Wednesday after intelligence shown to him indicated it was likely that the Airbus A321 heading towards St Petersburg was brought down by a bomb.

Britain says there was a "credible threat" but has refused to comment further on the intelligence involved, citing long-standing rules about disclosing operational details about live investigations.

Western intelligence sources said some of the assessment about the bomb came from intercepted communications both from suspected militants and from one or more governments involved in the investigation.

The intelligence sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the evidence was not categorical and that there is still no hard forensic or scientific evidence to support the bomb theory.

"We still cannot be categorical but there is a distinct and credible possibility that there was a bomb," one source said.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the bomb may have been hidden in luggage in the hold of the Russian plane. They refused to give any further information.

A US official said the "chatter" intercepted about the bomb includes conflicting details about whether the bomb was placed on the plane.

Russia, which was initially critical of Britain's assessment of what it has called a crash, on Friday suspended all flights to Egypt.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the halt to flights after Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's FSB security service, recommended that Russia suspend all passenger flights to Egypt until it knew exactly what caused the crash.

"Until we know the real reasons for what happened, I consider it expedient to stop Russian flights to Egypt," said Bortnikov.

"Above all, this concerns tourist routes."

Cameron's spokesman declined to be drawn on details.

"The evidence we received suggested there was a credible threat with regard to Sharm al-Sheikh airport which is why we have taken the actions we have.

"I am not going to get into discussions on security matters. I am not going to speculate on the intelligence."

THE_CHANSTER · Nov 7, 2015

Viper said:
Paris (AFP) - An analysis of black boxes from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt point to a bomb attack, sources close to the probe said Friday, as Moscow halted flights to the country.

The flight data and voice recorders showed "everything was normal" until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff, pointing to "a very sudden explosive decompression," one source said.

The data "strongly favours" the theory a bomb on board had brought down the plane, he added.

Another source said the plane had gone down suddenly and violently.

Meanwhile, British airlines were scrambling to evacuate passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling flights to the Red Sea resort from which the doomed Airbus had taken off Saturday.

Where Britain leads, Russia follows...

Viper · Nov 8, 2015

Black box data points to bomb and ‘violent, sudden’ end on doomed Russian plane

European airlines prepared to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort, which has been a jewel in Egypt’s tourism crown.

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 07 November, 2015, 11:08am
UPDATED : Saturday, 07 November, 2015, 9:01pm

Agence France-Presse in Paris

A devastated scene in the aftermath of the mysterious crash in the Sinai peninsula. Photo: Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP

Analysis of black boxes from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt killing 224 people points to a bomb, sources close to the probe said on Friday, as Moscow halted flights to the country.

Meanwhile, British airlines were scrambling to evacuate passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling flights to the Red Sea resort from which the doomed Airbus took off.

The flight data and voice recorders showed “everything was normal” until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort Saturday, pointing to “a very sudden explosive decompression,” one source said.

The Islamic State group claimed it down the plane, providing no details, saying it was retaliation for Russian air strikes in Syria.

The data “strongly favours” the theory a bomb on board brought down the plane, the source added. Another source said the plane had gone down suddenly and violently.

One of the black boxes showed that the plane suffered “a violent, sudden” end, a source close to the case in Paris said.

The black box of Russian plane, MetroJet Airbus A321, showed "everything was normal' until both flight data and voice recorders failed 24 minutes after takeoff, suggesting “a very sudden explosive decompression.” Photo: Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP

The flight data recorder showed that “everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing”.

President Vladimir Putin ordered flights halted, although Moscow had previously downplayed reports that a bomb caused the crash.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies the measure did not mean Russia believed it was an attack as the investigation continued.

Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s emergencies ministry said Russian experts had taken samples from the crashed jet and were testing it for any traces of explosives.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted a representative of the national Aeroflot carrier as saying a plane would be sent on Friday to pick up stranded Russians.

With international concerns mounting, European airlines prepared to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort, which has been a jewel in Egypt’s tourism crown.

Relatives place a wreath on the grave of Nina Lushchenko, a victim of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 crash. Photo: AFP

A first flight landed at London’s Gatwick airport Friday afternoon, after a lengthy delay to its departure. Another plane was also headed for Britain.

There were angry scenes in Sharm el-Sheikh, as thousands of anxious Britons, who had also hoped to fly home, were sent back to their hotels after Egypt blocked several other repatriation flights. British Ambassador John Casson was heckled as he announced the news.

Egyptian Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said only eight of 29 flights would take off because the airport could not cope with all the luggage left behind.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered flights to Egypt halted, although Moscow had previously downplayed reports that a bomb caused the crash. Photo: AP

He and the head of the Egyptian-led probe into the incident are to hold a press conference on Saturday at 1500 GMT, the government’s press office said, before warning that it may be “postponed”.

In a sign of mounting fears about the security of baggage handling in Egypt, Dutch carrier KLM announced that it had banned check-in luggage on an early flight from Cairo, mirroring moves taken by several European airlines.

And American Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said the United States would step up security screenings of US-bound flights from some Middle Eastern airports.

Cairo has sought to downplay any suggestion of an attack.

But US President Barack Obama said: “I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously,” while emphasising it was too early to say for sure.

In London, Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters it was “more likely than not that... a terrorist bomb” caused the crash.

And The Times newspaper reported that electronic communications intercepted by British and US intelligence suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.

Satellites uncovered chatter between militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria, it said.

“The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff,” the newspaper reported, without giving a source.

Passengers line up to depart from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport. Photo: AP

Egypt has beefed up security at airports to “give confidence to the British government, but that does not mean we concur with any scenario,” foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

There is no global or European blanket ban and some flights have continued from the airport.

France and Belgium have warned citizens against travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh. and Britain has advised against all but essential travel by air to or from the resort.

The British government authorised flights to resume from the resort on Friday to bring home an estimated 20,000 British tourists. But thousands were turned away after Egypt blocked British tour operators from flying in empty aircraft to make up the backlog.

Those passengers who did fly out were allowed to carry hand luggage only, with their check-in bags to follow separately.

Joining a string of airlines in avoiding Sharm el-Sheikh, Lufthansa said its Eurowings subsidiary would halt flights between Germany and the Red Sea resort, while Turkish Airlines also cancelled two flights.

If it was behind the attack, it would be the first time IS, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, has hit a passenger plane.

The incident has the potential to deeply damage Egypt’s tourism industry, still struggling to recover from a turbulent four years following its 2011 revolution.

Viper · Nov 8, 2015

Noise heard in crashed plane recording

By Asma Alsharif and Dominic Evans
November 8, 2015, 5:14 am

2015_11_07t172807z_1_lop000hegdsmt_rtrmadp_baseimage_960x540_egypt_crash_investigation-1b3sgel.jpg

Flight recorder reveals noise in plane's final seconds, Egypt says

A Russian plane which crashed in Egypt was on auto-pilot and appeared to break up in mid-air after a sudden noise, the lead investigator says.

But it's too soon to conclude exactly what brought it down, he says.

Ayman al-Muqaddam, head of a team of experts looking into one of Egypt's worst air disasters, said the cockpit voice recording would be analysed to identify the nature of the noise, which Western governments have indicated may have been a bomb.

Islamic State militants fighting security forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula have said they brought down the Airbus A321, which crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the resort of Sharm al-Sheikh one week ago, killing all 224 passengers.

Ayman al-Muqaddam, head of the team of Egyptian experts, leading the operation. Photo: Reuters

Fears that the crash was caused by Islamist militants led several Western countries, Russia and Turkey to suspend flights to Sharm al-Sheikh, stranding tens of thousands of holidaymakers and dealing a heavy blow to Egypt's vital tourist industry.

Muqaddam said the auto-pilot was still engaged when the crash occurred and debris were scattered over a wide area of the Sinai desert extending for 13km, adding that was "consistent with an in-flight break-up".

The black boxes recovered from the crash site showed that a "a noise was heard in the last second of the ... recording", which will be sent to a specialist laboratory for analysis.

Scientists have used such methods to examine the signature of dying cockpit recordings in aircraft bombings. Comparing the frequencies may help determine whether the sound comes from a deliberate or accidental explosion.

The crash site in Egypt. Photo: Reuters

Muqaddam said his team, including experts from Egypt, Russia, France, Germany and Ireland had not yet reached any conclusion. He said structural fatigue, a fuel explosion and even lithium batteries carried by passengers could be a cause.

Muqaddam said no evidence had been provided to his team that the plane may have been brought down by a bomb.

Earlier on Saturday Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that foreign intelligence about the cause of the crash had not been passed on to Cairo.

"The information we have heard about has not been shared with Egyptian security agencies in detail," Shoukry said.

Officials say a 'sudden noise' was heard on the cockpit voice recorder. Photo: Reuters

Egyptian security officials on Saturday were checking video footage at Sharm al-Sheikh airport for any suspicious activity, in the clearest sign yet that they believe the Russian plane could have been deliberately targeted.

"We want to determine if, for instance, anyone sneaked past security officials or the metal detectors. We are also trying to determine if there was any unusual activity among policemen or airport staff," one of the officials told Reuters.

Western intelligence sources have said British and US spies intercepted "chatter" from suspected militants suggesting that a bomb, possibly hidden in luggage in the hold, had downed the plane.

The Islamic State-affiliated Sinai Province, which claimed it brought the plane down, said it acted in revenge for Russian air strikes against Islamist fighters in Syria.

On Friday, Moscow suspended flights to Egypt, leaving nearly 80,000 Russians stranded, mainly in the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm al-Sheikh.

British attempts to fly home thousands of holidaymakers on Friday ran into trouble when Egypt restricted the number of flights, citing capacity at Sharm al-Sheikh airport and British airliners' refusal to take passenger luggage in the hold.

A British official at Sharm al-Sheikh airport said nine flights were expected to repatriate 2000 stranded British tourists on Saturday, and the government hoped to get them all home within 10 days.

Viper · Nov 9, 2015

Egypt airport officials reveal porous security as bomb theory surrounds Russian jet crash

Lapses exposed at Sharm el-Sheikh include poor baggage scanning

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 08 November, 2015, 11:19pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 08 November, 2015, 11:19pm

Associated Press in Cairo

Tourists queue for security checks at Sharm el-Sheikh.Photo: EPA

The airport at Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has long seen gaps in security, including a key baggage scanning device that often is not functioning and lax searches at an entry gate for food and fuel for the planes, security officials at the airport said.

Security at the airport, and others around Egypt, have become a central concern as investigators probe the October 31 crash of a Russian plane 23 minutes after it left Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 on board. The US and Britain have said the cause was likely a bomb planted on the flight, and Russia has halted flights to Egypt until security at airports is improved.

Seven officials involved in security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, several for more than a decade, have revealed the holes in security. Several said the malfunctioning scanner had been noted in security reports to their superiors, but the machine was not replaced.

One of the officials, involved in security for planes, also pointed to bribe-taking by poorly paid policemen monitoring X-ray machines. "I can't tell you how many times I have caught a bag full of drugs or weapons that they have let through for €10 or whatever," he said.

egypt_russian_metrojet_plane_crash_aftermath_fet2_53757907.jpg

The A321 plane of Metrojet from Sharm-el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed in the Sinai, Egypt on October 31, killing all 224 people aboard. Photo: EPA

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has said British officials sent a security team to evaluate the airport 10 months ago, in cooperation with Egyptian officials, and were satisfied with the results.

A spokesman for Britain's Department of Transportation would not comment on any details of what the team found. But British Transport Secretary Patrick Mcloughlin suggested on Friday that screening of checked-in bags was insufficient, telling the BBC that it had imposed its own additional checks on its flights "because we weren't wholly satisfied with the way screening had been done."

All bags are put through a scanner as passengers enter Sharm airport, and carry-on bags go through a second machine at the gate before boarding.

But a scanner in the sorting area for checked-in bags often was not working, all the airport officials said.

One of the officials said the breakdowns in the 10-year-old CTX scanner were because operators didn't use it properly - "human stupidity," he said - rather than technical faults.

"I have seen people unplug it to save power," he said.

Another of the officials said the staff made sure the scanner was operating well enough whenever international experts came to review airport measures.

"We only care about appearances," he said. "Once they [higher-ups] hear someone is coming, suddenly everything gets fixed. ... We wish we had visits every day."

Several of the officials argued that it was "not that important" that the machine broke down because when it was working, it was only used to scan a sample of the bags, not all of them.

The scanner was one of at least five granted by Britain, and another scanner is used at Cairo's airport but only to scan luggage for flights to London and Paris, according to two security officials there. In Sharm el-Sheikh, the selective use of the scanner was even more arbitrary, three officials said.

Viper · Nov 9, 2015

Investigators "90 per cent sure" of bomb

Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Michael Georgy
November 9, 2015, 7:42 am

Investigators of the Russian plane crash in Egypt are "90 per cent sure" the noise heard in the final second of a cockpit recording was an explosion caused by a bomb, a member of the investigation team says.

The Airbus A321 crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Sharm al-Sheikh tourist resort eight days ago, killing all 224 passengers and crew. Islamic State militants fighting Egyptian security forces in Sinai said they brought it down.

"The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb," said the Egyptian investigation team member, who asked not to be named due to sensitivities. "We are 90 per cent sure it was a bomb."

His comments reflect a higher degree of certainty about the cause of the crash than the investigation committee has so far declared in public.

Lead investigator Ayman al-Muqaddam announced on Saturday that the plane appeared to have broken up in mid-air while it was being flown on auto-pilot, and that a noise had been heard in the last second of the cockpit recording. But he said it was too soon to draw conclusions about why the plane crashed.

Confirmation that militants brought down the airliner could have a devastating impact on Egypt's lucrative tourist industry, which has suffered from years of political turmoil and was hit last week when Russia, Turkey and several European countries suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh and other destinations.

It could also mark a new strategy by the hardline Islamic State group which holds large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Asked to explain the remaining 10 per cent margin of doubt, the investigator declined to elaborate, but Muqaddam cited other possibilities on Saturday including a fuel explosion, metal fatigue in the plane or lithium batteries overheating.

He said debris was scattered over a 13km area "which is consistent with an in-flight break-up".

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the incident could lead to changes in flight security.

"If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active," Hammond told the BBC.

Islamic State militants fighting security forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula have said they brought down the aircraft as revenge for Russian air strikes against Islamist fighters in Syria. They said they would eventually tell the world how they carried out the attack.

Russia has returned 11,000 of its tourists from Egypt in the last 24 hours, RIA news agency said on Sunday, a fraction of the 80,000 Russians who were stranded by the Kremlin's decision on Friday to halt all flights to Egypt.

A British official said on Saturday it could take 10 days for all British tourists to be flown home.

CrazyWorld · Nov 9, 2015

Its a crazy world!

Viper · Nov 10, 2015

Russia sees possible 'terror' link in Egypt jet crash

AFP
November 10, 2015, 6:40 am

Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) (AFP) - Moscow acknowledged Monday for the first time a terrorist attack could have caused the October 31 Russian plane crash in Egypt, as thousands more tourists were evacuated from the country.

"The possibility of an act of terror is of course there as the reason for what happened," Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev admitted in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta state newspaper.

Britain and the United States, as well as international investigators, suspect a bomb exploded on board the Metrojet A-321 plane, but Egyptian officials insist there is no evidence yet of an attack on the aircraft which jihadists claim to have downed.

Russia had also refrained from blaming the crash, which killed all 224 people on board, on terrorists, although President Vladimir Putin on Friday suspended all flights to Egypt.

Israel, which has strong intelligence links to the neighbouring Sinai where the Airbus came down while en route from Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, also sided with the attack theory.

"There is a strong probability that this is an attack," Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli reporters on Monday.

"From what we know and what we understand, I would be surprised if it turns out that it was not an attack."

And the head of Airbus said no technical fault has yet been detected for the crash of the A-321.

"I can say that so far, what we got from the investigation didn't trigger any action, technical action on our side, regarding the A-321 fleet," said Fabrice Bregier, the European manufacturer's chief executive officer.

- Top jihadist killed -

"But we need to wait for the conclusion of the investigations," Bregier said at the Dubai Airshow.

Amid the tourist exodus from Egypt, a senior operative of the Islamic State jihadist group, Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli, was shot dead in an exchange of fire in Cairo after police tried to arrest him, the interior ministry said.

The IS group's branch in the Sinai claimed responsibility after the Russian plane crash.

Tens of thousands of foreign tourists, including some 80,000 Russians and 20,000 Britons, were stranded in the resort after flights were cancelled over security fears.

Moscow said Monday that about 25,000 Russian tourists had so far returned, on more than 100 flights, while Prime Minister David Cameron's office said some 5,000 Britons had returned home.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he hoped flights to Sharm could resume soon, once "robust" security arrangements are in place.

"We've got a peak season coming up over Christmas. We very much hope that it will be possible to resume normal air operations soon," he told reporters.

Flight numbers have been limited because both Russia and Britain have banned tourists from bringing their check-in luggage, which will be flown home separately.

That restriction has prompted Egypt to limit the number of daily repatriation flights because it says there is only so much baggage its airports can accommodate.

The crash has led to calls for greater security at airports in regions near where jihadists operate.

- Fears for tourism -

It has also raised fears for Egypt's vital tourism industry, which had already been suffering from years of unrest.

Derek Moore, chairman of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, told AFP that concerns over a bomb could dissuade British tourists from visiting during the peak season.

"Even offering rock-bottom prices will not achieve that if there is a feeling that a trip to Sharm might result in death," he said.

Local tourism chiefs say Sharm is secure.

"Sharm is safe. There is no problem inside Sharm el-Sheikh," said Givara el-Gafy, head of the south Sinai tourism chamber.

On Saturday, the head of Egypt's investigative committee said the cause of the crash was still not clear.

"Initial observations... do not allow for identifying the origin of the in-flight break-up" of the aircraft 23 minutes and 14 seconds after it departed, Ayman el-Mokkadem said.

Egypt has pushed back against mounting international concerns that a bomb brought down the plane, with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry saying it was too early to form a "hypothesis".

Sources close to the probe have told AFP that experts involved in the investigation, with the exception of the Egyptians, "strongly favour" the theory of a bomb on board.

IS said it downed the plane in retaliation for Russian air strikes in Syria, but has not said how.

The IS affiliate in Egypt is waging a bloody insurgency in north Sinai that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers.

Viper · Nov 10, 2015

Possible 'terror' link to crash: Russia

By Jay Deshmukh
November 10, 2015, 3:20 pm

Moscow has acknowledged for the first time a terrorist attack could have caused last month's Russian plane crash in Egypt, as thousands more tourists were evacuated from the country.

Britain and the US, as well as international investigators, suspect a bomb exploded on board the Metrojet A-321 plane, but Egyptian officials insist there is no evidence yet of an attack on the aircraft which jihadists claim to have downed.

Russia had also previously refrained from blaming the crash, which killed all 224 people on board, on terrorists until Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's admission.

"The possibility of an act of terror is of course there as the reason for what happened," Medvedev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta state newspaper.

A growing international chorus has backed the theory that the plane was downed in an attack, with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond saying Monday it was "more likely than not" that the plane was downed by an "explosive device placed on board".

On Monday, Israel - which has strong intelligence links to neighbouring Sinai where the Airbus came down while en route from Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg - joined in.

"There is a strong probability that this is an attack," Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli reporters on Monday.

And Airbus chief Fabrice Bregier said no technical fault has yet been detected for the crash of the A-321.

"I can say that so far, what we got from the investigation didn't trigger any action, technical action on our side, regarding the A-321 fleet," said Bregier.

"But we need to wait for the conclusion of the investigations."

Amid the tourist exodus from Egypt, a senior operative of the Islamic State jihadist group, Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli, was shot dead in an exchange of fire in Cairo after police tried to arrest him, the interior ministry said.

The IS group's branch in the Sinai claimed responsibility after the Russian plane crash.

IS said it downed the plane in retaliation for Russian air strikes in Syria, but has not said how.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of foreign tourists, including some 80,000 Russians and 20,000 Britons, were stranded in Egypt after flights were cancelled over security fears.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday suspended all flights to Egypt.

Moscow said on Monday that about 25,000 Russian tourists had so far returned on more than 100 flights, while London said some 5,000 Britons had returned home.

Hammond said he hoped flights to Sharm could resume soon, once "robust" security arrangements are in place.

SkinTrade · Nov 11, 2015

meanwhile in another other thread, PAP IB clones are making a fool of themselves with their bullshit. :rolleyes:

Viper · Nov 18, 2015

Russia confirms bomb attack brought down Egypt plane, vows revenge

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 17 November, 2015, 5:37pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 17 November, 2015, 6:22pm

Egyptian Military vehicles approach the tail of a passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that now Russia, the UK and other countries believe was brought down by explosives onboard. Photo: AP

Russia's President Vladimir Putin vowed vengeance after Moscow on Tuesday confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.

“It is not the first time that Russia confronts barbarous terrorist crimes”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting late Monday with his security chiefs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) meets with defence chiefs as he pledged to step up air strikes in Syria. Photo: AFP

“The murder of our people in Sinai is among the bloodiest crimes in terms of victims. We will not wipe away the tears from our soul and hearts. This will stay with us forever but will not stop us finding and punishing the criminals,” he said in comments released Tuesday.

“We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them,” he said, calling the attack “one of the bloodiest crimes”.

Russia's security chief Alexander Bortnikov told Putin that the passenger jet was brought down over the Sinai peninsula by a bomb with a force equivalent to one kilo of TNT.

“We can say unequivocally that this was a terrorist attack,” Federal Security Service (FSB) head Bortnikov said.

Egyptians hold candles in front of the Great Pyramid, illuminated in the colours of the Russian and French flags to show solidarity after the Paris terror attacks and the crash of Russian Metrojet plane on 31 October. Photo: EPA

In response to the attack Putin pledged to step up air strikes in Syria where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign it says is targeting the Islamic State group and other “terrorist” groups.

“The combat work of our aviation in Syria must not only be continued. It must be intensified so that the criminals understand that vengeance is inevitable,” Putin said.

A group linked to IS had earlier claimed responsibility for downing the plane but Russia had said it was waiting for the official results of an investigation into the tragedy.

Putin ordered Russia's foreign ministry to contact all Moscow's partners for assistance and said that it was counting on “our friends” to help find and punish those responsible for the plane attack.

singveld · Nov 18, 2015

russian using propeller plane in war against islamic terrorism.

Russian Airliner crashes in the Sinai desert, 224 people mati, karma for Putin

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