Egypt havariet - Eksplosjon kan ha skapt fragmentering vist på bilder - Curt Lewis

Russian plane crash: U.S. officials say ISIS bomb may have brought down jet Egypt says there is no evidence supporting the theory that a bomb took down Flight 9268 Metrojet grounds all of its Airbus A321 planes Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said officials have found no evidence to support the theory that a bomb caused Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 to crash in Sinai. As U.S. intelligence suggests terrorists may have bombed Metrojet Flight 9268, several countries are taking extra precautions -- but for different reasons. Metrojet's entire Airbus A321 fleet has been grounded while "additional safety checks are being conducted," Russia's federal air safety watchdog Rostransnadzor said Thursday. But British officials have halted flights from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh due to concerns that the plane may have been bombed and "a credible threat to British nationals." Flight 9268 crashed Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after breaking apart in midair, killing all 224 people on board. It was headed from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia. U.S. officials told CNN that intelligence suggests ISIS or its affiliates planted a bomb on the Russian plane. The officials stressed that no formal conclusion has been reached by the U.S. intelligence community and that U.S. officials haven't seen forensic evidence from the crash investigation. But the intelligence also suggests someone at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport helped get a bomb onto the plane, one U.S. official said. "This airport has lax security. It is known for that," the official said. "But there is intelligence suggesting an assist from someone at the airport. " Egyptian authorities, who are leading the investigation into the crash, haven't publicly responded to reports on U.S. intelligence. Since the crash, they've downplayed the possibility that terrorism could be involved. Why some suspect ISIS involvement U.S. intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down plane The signs pointing to ISIS, another U.S. official said, are partially based on monitoring of internal messages of the terrorist group. Those messages are separate from public ISIS claims of responsibility, that official said. In an audio message from ISIS' Sinai branch that was posted on terror-related social media accounts Wednesday, the organization adamantly insisted that it brought down the flight. "Find your black boxes and analyze them, give us the results of your investigation and the depth of your expertise and prove we didn't do it or how it was downed," the message said. "Die with your rage. We are the ones with God's blessing who brought it down. And God willing, one day we will reveal how, at the time we desire." Doubts about ISIS' claims Who is ISIS in Sinai Pennisula? Typically, ISIS is quick to trumpet how and who carried out any attacks for purposes of praise and propaganda. To some, the fact that ISIS hasn't provided details in this case raises doubt about the group's repeated claims of responsibility. Officials in Egypt and Russia have said there's no evidence to support ISIS' claims. "That was a very baffling way to claim credit for what would be the most significant terrorist attack since 9/11," CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. "But there may have been a method behind this and a reason behind this, and that may have been to protect an insider at Sharm el-Sheikh airport." Foreign tourists stranded in Egypt U.K. uses strong language suggesting bomb was on plane Concerns that the plane may have been bombed have left thousands of foreign tourists stuck in Egypt. British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said flights scheduled to leave Sharm el-Sheikh for the UK have been delayed as a precaution to allow British aviation experts to assess security arrangements at the city's airport. "While the investigation is still ongoing, we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed," Cameron's office said Wednesday. "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." An intelligence review revealed "there's a credible threat to British nationals" -- prompting the suspension of flights, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told CNN affiliate ITN. He said 3,500 British nationals were due to fly out of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday. "We hope by tomorrow (Friday) we will have in place short-term emergency measures that will provide us with the level of assurance we need to allow flights to go out from the UK empty and bring those people back to the UK," he told ITN. Tourists stuck at the airport Wednesday vented their frustration. "People have been shouting at officials," British tourist Sarah Cotterill told CNN. She was supposed to fly out of the resort city with her sister and their five children. "We are going to stay in a hotel in Sharm el- Sheikh. I don't know where. We don't know anything." Ireland has also suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh until further notice. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said he was "somewhat surprised" by the British decision. "I think it is somewhat premature to make declarations related to what might or might not have happened to the aircraft before the investigation is completed and before there is a definitive cause for this crash," he told CNN. Militant battleground New video shows wreckage of Russian jet Sharm el-Sheikh, where Flight 9268 began its journey, is a beach resort at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The plane crashed about 300 kilometers (185 miles) farther north, according to Egyptian authorities. Sinai has been a battleground between ISIS- affiliated militants and Egyptian security forces in recent years. Hundreds have died in the fighting. ISIS in Sinai is one of the most active of all the ISIS affiliates and has bomb-making capabilities, according to U.S. intelligence. But if the group did plant a bomb on the plane, it would represent an increase in sophistication. U.S. officials say ISIS has not proved to be nearly as advanced with bomb-making capabilities as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that U.S. national security officials believed were working on nonmetallic bombs to be smuggled onto planes. "If ISIS really was responsible for this, this will turbocharge their popularity in the global jihadi movement," Cruickshank said. Russia vs. ISIS Data shows steep, unrecoverable decent of Russian plane If the crash was caused by a bomb planted by ISIS or an affiliate, why might the terrorists target a plane of mostly Russian passengers? Russia started launching airstrikes in Syria in September, saying it was coordinating with the Syrian regime to combat ISIS and other terrorists. When news of the crash first broke, an ISIS- affiliated group known as Province of Sinai released a statement claiming responsibility for the crash, saying it had perpetrated the attack "in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land," according to Reuters. That claim was disputed by officials, who said ISIS couldn't have fired a missile to bring down the plane. U.S. officials initially said they doubted Russia's claims that it was targeting ISIS in Syria. But Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Operation Inherent Resolve targeting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said Wednesday that some Russian airstrikes were hitting ISIS targets in Syria. "They've done hundreds of airstrikes at this point. I'm not putting out the count anymore, but they conduct airstrikes, but only a fraction of them have been against (ISIS) targets," he said. "And when I say fraction, I'm talking ... 10%." http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/middleeast/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/ Back to Top

New Fears That ISIS Bomb Brought Down Russian Jet The United Kingdom says it is concerned that the Russian jet was brought down by a bomb on Saturday, and is suspending flights to and from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. New intelligence suggests that ISIS may have planted a bomb on the Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt on Saturday, an anonymous U.S. official told CNN. British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond confirmed to Reuters that there is a "significant possibility" that ISIS was behind the attack. Neither U.K. nor the U.S. has not conclusively determined the cause of the plane crash, but, as NBC News reports, U.S. investigators are focusing on "ISIS operatives or sympathizers" as the perpetrators, British and U.S. officials said Wednesday they have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by a bomb, and Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula as a precaution. Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly. The official and others said there had been no formal judgment rendered by the CIA or other intelligence agencies, and that forensic evidence from the blast site, including the airplane's black box, was still being analyzed. The official added that intelligence analysts don't believe the operation was ordered by Islamic State leaders in Raqqa, Syria. Rather, they believe that if it was a bomb, it was planned and executed by the Islamic State's affiliate in the Sinai, which operates autonomously. Other officials cautioned that intercepted communications can sometimes be misleading and that it's possible the evidence will add up to a conclusion that there was no bomb. Meanwhile, Russian and Egyptian investigators said Wednesday that the cockpit voice recorder of the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 had suffered substantial damage in the weekend crash that killed 224 people. Information from the flight data recorder has been successfully copied and handed over to investigators, the Russians added. Prime Minister David Cameron's office said British aviation experts were headed to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight originated, to assess security before British flights there would be allowed to resume. No British flights were flying to the resort Wednesday, but several were scheduled to depart. Cameron's 10 Downing St. office said in a statement that it could not say "categorically" why the Russian jet had crashed. "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," it said. The British government's crisis committee was meeting Wednesday to review the situation. Downing St. said Cameron had discussed the issue of security at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who flew to Britain on Wednesday for an official visit. The British disclosures would be an embarrassment to el-Sissi, who had insisted in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday that the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under "full control." He has staked his legitimacy on restoring stability and reviving Egypt's economy. The suspension of flights would be a further blow to Egypt's troubled tourism industry, which has suffered in the unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring. The one bright spot for Egypt has been tourism at the Red Sea resorts. British Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the British experts would "ensure the right security measures are in place for flights." "It is when that review is completed that we will allow the flights that are there tonight to depart," he said. The Irish Aviation Authority followed the British lead and directed Irish airlines to suspend flights to Sharm el-Sheikh Airport and into the airspace of the Sinai Peninsula "until further notice." The British acted "too soon," said Hany Ramsay, deputy head of Sharm el-Sheikh's airport. "Other countries might soon follow them, Ramsay told The Associated Press, suggesting there may be political and commercial motives behind the British statement. "They want to hurt tourism and cause confusion," he added. Aviation experts are traveling to Sharm el-Sheikh to assess security before any British flights there will be allowed to leave, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said. Several airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France, stopped flying over Sinai after the crash, but British carriers had kept to their schedules. Almost 1 million Britons visit Egypt each year, many to Sharm el-Sheikh, which is also popular with Russians. The Metrojet flight carrying mostly Russian vacationers from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg broke up in the air at an altitude of 31,000 feet 23 minutes after takeoff and came down in the Sinai desert, Russian officials said. The plane crash site, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the city of el-Arish, lies in the northern Sinai, where Egyptian security forces have for years battled local Islamic militants. Two U.S. officials told the AP on Tuesday that U.S. satellite imagery detected heat around the jet just before it went down. The infrared activity could mean many things, including a bomb blast or an engine on the plane exploding due to a malfunction. One of the officials who spoke condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the information publicly said a missile striking the jetliner was ruled out, because neither a missile launch nor an engine burn had been detected. The Saturday crash killed all 224 people on the Metrojet Airbus plane. The Islamic State group claimed it had downed the plane because of Moscow's recent military intervention in Syria against the extremist group, but el-Sissi dismissed that as "propaganda" aimed at damaging Egypt's image. Douglas Barrie, military aerospace expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said it was too soon to say for sure the cause of the crash but the "general suspicion" that an explosive device was involved has been mounting. He said the British government's decision made sense. "It's a political decision to err on the side of caution if it has been deemed possible that an explosive device was involved and there are concerns about the levels of security at the airport involved," he said. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Commission, which oversees civil aviation in much of the former Soviet Union, said in a statement that information from the Metrojet flight's data recorder had been successfully copied and given to investigators. But the cockpit voice recorder "received serious mechanical damage." Egypt's Aviation Ministry also said the voice recorder is "partially damaged" and that as a result "a lot of work is required in order to extract data from it." Metrojet, the plane's owner, and Russian authorities offered conflicting theories of what happened. Metrojet officials have insisted the crash was due to an "external impact," not a technical malfunction or pilot error. Russian officials have said it's too early to jump to that conclusion. El-Sissi told the BBC that the cause of the crash may not be known for months and that there should be no speculation until then. Rescue teams in Egypt combed the Sinai desert for more remains and parts of the plane's fuselage as grief-stricken Russian families in St. Petersburg faced an agonizing wait to bury their loved ones. Russian and Egyptian rescue workers expanded their search area in the Sinai to 40 square kilometers (15 square miles). The Russian state television channel Rossiya-24 reported the plane's tail was found 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the rest of the wreckage. Only one body has been released to a Russian family for burial so far. Relatives have identified 33 bodies and the paperwork is nearly finished on 22 of those, meaning the families should get the bodies shortly, said Igor Albin, deputy governor of St. Petersburg, in a televised conference call. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-plane-uk_563a42f6e4b0411d306f1fc7 Back to Top

Sinai Security Concerns Spread After U.K. Says Bomb May Have Downed Jet Dutch authorities say move a direct result of London's decision on flights to Sharm El Sheikh LONDON-Flights between the U.K. and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt remained grounded Thursday, a day after the British government said there was a significant possibility the Russian airliner which crashed on Saturday was downed by a bomb aboard the plane. Dutch authorities are now following the advice from their British counterparts, who have also expressed concerns about security at Sharm El Sheikh airport, and have instructed airlines not to fly to the Egyptian coastal resort. A spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice on Thursday said no flights would depart for the Egyptian beach resort until at least Sunday. The Dutch government was acting on the advice of the British government, rather than the country's own intelligence, the spokesman said. But several airlines have taken precautionary measures. Emirates Airline, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM, on Saturday rerouted planes away from Sinai in the wake of the crash as a precautionary measure. British Airways, which had continued flights to Sharm El Sheikh, on Wednesday said it was "liaising closely with the government" and awaiting more information. European discount airline easyJet canceled several Sharm El Sheikh flights late Wednesday following the British government's alert. Thomson Airways, the carrier of tour operator TUI Group, canceled all flights to the Egyptian beach resort through Nov. 12. The Airbus A321 jetliner, which was operated by a Russian carrier, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after taking off from Sharm El Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. The Egyptian branch of militant group Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim it reiterated Wednesday. The group's claim of responsibility has been met with deep skepticism by Egyptian, Russian and U.S. officials. Egyptian soldiers collect personal belongings of plane crash victims at the crash site of the passenger plane bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. The U.K. authorities think a bomb might have downed the jet.  British Prime Minister David Cameron was due Thursday to hold an emergency meeting with cabinet ministers to oversee how the U.K. is helping British tourists in Sharm El Sheikh. Later Thursday, Mr. Cameron will meet with Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in London, on his first official visit to the U.K., which is set to be tense. Egyptian officials have expressed frustration with the U.K.'s decision to suspend flights and have defended the security at Sharm El Sheikh airport. U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday that the U.K. won't resume flying until it is confident there are long-term, sustainable arrangements in place to improve security on flights between the U.K. and Sharm El Sheikh safe. "Regardless of the cost, regardless of the delay, regardless of the inconvenience, the point I am making is that the longer term arrangements have to be sustainable," Mr. Hammond said. The U.K. is working with airlines and Egyptian authorities to put in place emergency procedures and extra security. He declined to comment on what basis the U.K. made its decision on, saying he couldn't comment on intelligence issues, noting that the U.K. has reached its decision based on a range of information. Some 20,000 British nationals are currently in the Sharm El Sheikh area, a popular vacation destination. The U.K. on Wednesday said it advised against all but essential travel by air to Sharm El Sheikh airport. Airlines Plan Egypt Evacuations as Jet Crash Blamed on Bomb Travel companies led by EasyJet Plc and Thomas Cook Group Plc are preparing to evacuate about 10,000 tourists stranded in Egypt after the U.K. banned commercial flights to Sinai, citing concern that a bomb caused the crash of a Russian plane there last weekend. EasyJet, which said Thursday it has 4,500 passengers in Egypt, will model the plan on its extraction of clients from Tunisia after a shooting in July left 30 Britons dead, with empty jets flying from the U.K. for rescue operations. "EasyJet is in close contact with the U.K. government as to when we may be able to resume flights and repatriate people," spokeswoman Anna Knowles said. "We would only do so when the government deems it safe it travel." The U.K.'s assessment that terrorism was the likely cause of the crash was based on "all the information available," some of it "sensitive," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Sky News, a position echoed by three U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said there's "no basis" for that conclusion at this stage of the probe, even as Russian officials were ordered to bolster security measures in all countries where the country's airlines fly. Islamic State Preliminary evidence suggested involvement by Islamic State and investigators were examining the prospect that someone -- perhaps a baggage handler or airline official -- was bribed to get a bomb onto the Metrojet airliner, two of the U.S. officials said. The jet was downed en route from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh airport to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. People purporting to represent Islamic State claimed the downing was retaliation for Russia's bombing of the extremist group in Syria. About 330 EasyJet customers were stranded by the cancellation of two flights Wednesday after Britain's intervention, and a further 1,800 were due to fly out Thursday on six services. While an initial statement said flights might resume after U.K. officials review security arrangements in Sharm el-Sheikh, Hammond would say only that trips might start again before the Christmas rush. Flights Halted EasyJet scrapped four flights from London on Thursday, one from Manchester and one from Milan, where the Italian government has yet to comment on the cause of the crash. Thomas Cook said it has 1,700 customers in the Red Sea resort who will be brought back in "due course," with free accommodation to be provided in the interim. The tour operator and rival TUI AG's Thomson arm scrapped all services through Nov. 12. Monarch Airlines said it's working with the Foreign Office to bring people home, and British Airways said it would put back its sole Thursday flight by one day for the moment. The Netherlands also said Thursday that it was advising people not to travel to Sinai. Representatives of the relevant government departments in countries including Germany and France didn't immediately respond to calls for comment. Premature Egypt's civil aviation ministry, whose investigators are leading the probe, said that theories about the cause of the tragedy are no more than speculation. Investigators haven't found any evidence or information proving the plane was downed by an on-board explosion, Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said in a statement Thursday. While the A321's flight-data recorder has been successfully retrieved and is ready for examination, the cockpit-voice recorder was damaged and needs further work to extract sounds from the crucial last few minutes of the flight. The disintegration of the aircraft close to its cruising altitude, with debris spread over an area measuring 8 miles by 4 miles, nevertheless suggests that it suffered a catastrophic break up that experts agree was most likely caused by some form of attack or a structural failure.