'High probability' Russian flight was bombed, says UK foreign secretary

Philip Hammond made some explicit statement so far of belief that bomb caused destruction of flight from Sharm el-Sheikh,Egypt.

There is a “high probability” that the bomb planted by an Islamic State supporter brought down the Russian airliner which crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula just over a week ago, according to Britain’s foreign secretary.

Rather, he said: “It may have been an individual who was inspired by Isis who was self-radicalised by looking at Isis propaganda and was acting in the name of Isis without necessarily being directed.”

Hammond’s comments, were made during an interview with CNN, came as US sources reportedly suggested that Russian communications intercepted by US intelligence agencies show Russia also believes the plane to have been brought down by a bomb.

The intercepts are among pieces of evidence leading US officials to suspect that a device planted on Metrojet Flight 9268 exploded shortly after the Airbus A321 took off from the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to a report by Reuters.

All 224 passengers and crew were killed when the plane crashed in the desert on 31 October on their way to  Russia. Egypt and Russia have yet to formally announce the cause of the disaster although both have publicly been dismissed as premature .

The Guardian UK