Britain: Russian Plane Over Egypt Likely Crashed Due to Bomb Explosion

Britain said on Wednesday, November 4, that the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai desert of Egypt a few days ago likely went down due to a bomb explosion. According to Reuters, the British Prime Minister's office stated, "While investigations are still ongoing, we cannot definitively announce the cause of the Russian plane's crash. However, as we gather more information, we consider the possibility that this plane may have crashed due to a bomb explosion." The Russian passenger plane was destroyed shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh over the Sinai desert, killing all passengers and crew on board. The British government announced that a team of flight experts has been sent to Sharm el-Sheikh to conduct security checks on all planes flying from that airport to Britain before departure. Simultaneously, Reuters reported, citing the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, that one of the black boxes of the Russian plane is damaged. Egyptian officials announced on Wednesday that experts were able to extract flight data from one of the two black boxes of the plane. However, the second black box, which contains recorded cockpit conversations, is damaged and requires more time to extract information from it. In a part of the statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, it is stated: "For this reason, no further comments will be made regarding the fate of this plane. Testing of the parts of this plane continues." Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group in the Sinai released an audio message denying their responsibility for downing the Russian passenger plane, adding that they would announce to the world how they did it at the appropriate time. This group stated shortly after the crash that they had downed the Russian passenger plane in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims in Syria. The governments of Egypt and Russia denied this claim. Experts and investigative groups have said it is unlikely that this plane was targeted from the outside, and it is believed that militants stationed in the Sinai do not have the technology and weapons necessary to target a plane at an altitude higher than 10,000 meters. However, Russian officials stated that the plane was destroyed in the sky, reinforcing the possibility of an explosion due to bombing. The Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, in response to reporters' questions about unusual sounds recorded by the black boxes just moments before the plane's destruction, said: "All of this is speculation, and until the investigations are complete, nothing can be announced with certainty." Reuters adds that militants affiliated with the Islamic State group in the Sinai on Wednesday, in an audio message published on Twitter, stated: "With God's help, we brought down this plane and currently do not feel obligated to reveal how we destroyed the plane." The Islamic State and its affiliated groups had threatened to respond to U.S. and Russian airstrikes. The group affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq on Tuesday congratulated its colleagues in the Sinai via a video and warned Vladimir Putin that more attacks against Russian targets would occur. In the past, the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for actions that were not carried out by them. In this context, the Russian passenger plane with 224 passengers crashed in Egypt. The Russian government commission is investigating the plane's crash in Egypt. The Russian passenger plane had "disintegrated" before the crash. The crash of the Russian plane was due to "an external factor." "There are still no signs" of terrorist intervention in the crash of the Russian plane. The crash of the Russian plane; "radiation recording," "denial of foreign object impact."