The Russian government has confirmed that it was a bomb that downed a Russian passenger plane that crashed over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board.
According to a statement posted on the Kremlin’s web site on Tuesday, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security services told a meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin, that “One can unequivocally say that it was a terrorist act”.
Mr. Bortnikov, said “an improvised explosive device” had detonated soon after the plane took off.
“The plane disintegrated in midair, which explains the widely scattered fuselage pieces,” Mr. Bortnikov said.
The Airbus A-321 took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on its way to the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
The plane owned by Russian airline Kogalmavia, was carrying mostly Russian tourists.
Initially, the plane was thought to have disappeared over Cyprus.
An Islamist militant group affiliated to ISIS said its shot down the plane but this was quickly dismissed by the Egyptian government which said it was not possible as the plane was flying at an altitude beyond the reach of shoulder-mounted missiles normally carried by the militants.
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