News / Russia

Russia says identified groups behind plane crash in Sinai

Thursday, 24 December 2015 2:27 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 December 2015 2:26 PM ]

Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation ©AP

The head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) says the agency has managed to identify groups responsible for the October crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt.

"You know, work [on this matter] is underway. So far, I am unable to tell you anything specific. We have determined the approximate origin of the entities that may be related to this," Alexander Bortnikov said on Thursday.

He further noted that the FSB was unable to find the people involved in the Russian plane crash.

On October 31, an Airbus A321, run by Russia’s Kogalymavia airline, crashed in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all the 224 people – mostly Russians – on board.

The picture, taken on November 1, 2015 and released on November 3, 2015 by Russia’s Emergency Ministry, shows the wreckage of an A321 Russian airliner in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where the plane crashed. ©AFP

An affiliate of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which is based in Egypt’s troubled Sinai, claimed responsibility for the incident.

On November 17, the FSB said that the plane was brought down by a bomb, confirming speculations that the crash had been a terrorist act.

The incident drew criticism about Egypt’s airport security and hit the North African country's tourism sector, with a number of European airlines suspending flights to and from there.

Egypt has been witnessing deadly attacks carried out by Daesh-linked Takfiri militants in the Sinai Peninsula since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the African state’s first democratically-elected president, in July 2013.

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