Islamic State in Egypt claims it brought down Russian plane; 224 dead
Terror group hails success, although Sinai officials say technical failure led to crash; Putin dispatches investigators
By TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF AND AP
October 31, 2015, 4:42 pm
The Islamic State terror group in Egypt claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian passenger plane on Saturday carrying 224 people, according to Hebrew media.
IS in Egypt, formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, published the claim of responsibility — as yet unconfirmed — hours after the plane, traveling from from the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh back to St. Petersburg, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula with 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
“The soldiers of the caliphate succeeded in bringing down a Russian plane in Sinai,” said the statement circulated on social media. “More than 220 Crusaders were on board. All were killed, praise God.”
There were no survivors in the crash.
Earlier, the Russian airline operating the plane, Kogalymavia, also known as Metrojet, said there were “no grounds” to blame human error, intimating that the incident may not have been an accident. Still, security sources in Sinai told Reuters that, according to an initial investigation, the plane crashed due to technical fault.
An Egyptian aviation official says the pilot of Metrojet Flight 7K9268 had reported technical difficulties and planned an emergency landing at the nearest airport before losing contact with Egyptian air traffic controllers and crashing. Ayman al-Muqadem, a member of the Aviation Incidents Committee, said the pilot had reported his intention to attempt to land at the nearest airport.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian emergency officials to fly immediately to the wreckage of the plane.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities raided the offices of Kogalymavia in Moscow, according to Reuters, and seized documents. The reason was not immediately clear.
A statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said military search and rescue teams found the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the city of Al-Arish, an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces are fighting a burgeoning Islamic militant insurgency led by the local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.
The group is responsible for numerous attacks against Egyptian security services in the Sinai over the past two years.
Russia recently began its own aerial campaign against Syrian rebel groups, including IS, in war-torn Syria, in an effort to bolster its ally, Bashar Assad.
Militants in northern Sinai have not previously shot down commercial airliners or fighter-jets. They are said to have obtained Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles, which could be used against low-flying aircraft or helicopters. In January of last year, they claimed to have down an Egyptian military helicopter; Egypt confirmed a helicopter crash at the time.
