The latest U.S. intelligence suggests that the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 was most likely caused by a bomb on the plane planted by ISIS or an ISIS affiliate, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The official stressed that there has not been a formal conclusion reached by the U.S. intelligence community. “There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane,” the official told CNN’s Barbara Starr.
RELATED: Crashed Russian Plane May Have Had A Bomb On It As ISIS Claims Responsibility
[Breaking news alert, posted at 2:53 p.m. ET Wednesday]
Ireland is suspending all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, until further notice, according to a statement from the Irish Aviation Authority. The move comes in the wake of concerns an explosive device may have caused Saturday’s crash of a Russian airliner that flew out of the resort city on the Sinai Peninsula. The United Kingdom took similar measures earlier Wednesday.
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[Previous story, posted at 2:45 p.m. ET Wednesday]
A passenger plane that crashed on the Sinai peninsula may have been brought down by a bomb, the British Prime Minister’s office said Wednesday.
That possibility prompted British authorities to delay flights from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the city from which the Russian flight departed, to the United Kingdom, the British Prime Minister’s office said.
Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed Saturday after breaking apart in mid-air, killing all 224 people on board.
“While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed,” the Prime Minister’s office said. “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.”
The delay of “flights due to leave Sharm for the UK this evening” is precautionary, to allow UK aviation experts to assess security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh’s airport, Cameron’s office said in its statement. Those experts have already departed the UK and are on their way to Egypt.
Earlier Wednesday, there was more speculation about what might have brought down Flight 9268.
The plane left the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and was heading to St. Petersburg early Saturday when it dropped off radar about 23 minutes into the flight, Egyptian officials said.
Was it a midair explosion? Could repair work from a previous accident be a factor?
Sinai has been a battleground between ISIS-affiliated militants and Egyptian security forces in recent years. Hundreds have died in the fighting.
The militants appeared to claim responsibility for bringing down the Russian passenger jet in a statement posted online Saturday, but officials in Egypt and Russia have disputed that claim, saying there’s no evidence to support it.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry said it wasn’t stepping up security in Sharm el-Sheikh or at the resort city’s airport “because there is no indication (the plane crash) was a terrorist operation.”
But the U.S. Embassy in Cairo has sent a security message to its employees, instructing them not to travel anywhere in Sinai pending the outcome of the crash investigation.
