Egypt havariet - Oppdatering - Curt Lewis

Kremlin confirms London gave Moscow certain data on A321 jet crash The Kremlin spokesman declined to provide details on what particular data were provided. Kremlin warns against linking A321 crash in Egypt with Russia's operation in SyriaExperts find components that are not of the crashed A321 airliner - source The UK has handed over to Moscow certain data on the Russian plane crash over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Naturally, we hope for cooperation with all countries, which may assist in the investigation of this tragedy," he said. "We can confirm that certain data has been handed over by the British side," Peskov noted. The Kremlin spokesman declined to provide details on what particular data he referred to, adding that so far he had no such information. For the same reason he did not answer the question whether these data had affected Russia's decision to suspend flights to Egypt. According to Peskov, it was up to investigators to confirm a particular version. Answering a question whether Russia sees any progress in the investigation of the Russian plane crash, he said "it was premature to talk about this, there have been no official statements yet about even some preliminary results from the investigators." He refused to comment on the fact that the Egyptian investigators are considering a terrorist attack to be the major cause of the crash. "At the moment I can say nothing," Peskov said. An A321 passenger jet of Russia's Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainian and one Belarusian nationals among the passengers. None of them survived. http://in.rbth.com/news/2015/11/09/kremlin-confirms-london-gave-moscow-certain-data-on-a321-jet-crash_538603 Back to Top

Egypt plane crash: Hotel workers 'may have hidden bomb inside Russian passengers' luggage' Employees at the hotels used by the 224 people on board Metrojet flight 9268 are reportedly being questioned Russian emergency services personnel and Egyptian servicemen working at the crash site of a A321 Russian airliner in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Getty Images Egyptian police are reportedly exploring a new theory that hotelstaff may have planted the bomb possibly used to down a Russian passenger plane in tourists' luggage. Maids, porters and other hotel staff are being questioned and having their backgrounds checked for any extremist links, The Telegraph reported. No suspects have been named following days of interviews with airport workers and with the Egyptian government "90 per cent sure" the plane exploded, police are looking for new leads. Thousands of holidaymakers remain stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh amid heightened security measures as investigations into the disaster on 31 October continue. All 224 passengers and crew on board Metrojet flight 9268 died when it crashed in the Sinai Peninsula less than half an hour into its flight from the Egyptian resort to St Petersburg. Extremist "chatter" intercepted by intelligence agencies indicated that a bomb was planted on board and the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have said a terrorist attack is the most likely cause of the disaster. British investigators believe the bomb would have been put in the hold and suspicion initially turned to airport workers and baggage handlers, but now the possibility that luggage was tampered with is being examined. Isis' Egyptian affiliate, Wilayat Sinai, immediately claimed responsibility for the atrocity and released footage, which was initially dismissed as fake, claiming to show an explosion on the plane before it falls out the sky. A written statement said jihadists were exacting revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria and militant leader Abu Osama al-Masri released an audio message last week claiming the bombing marked the one-year anniversary of the group's pledge of allegiance to Isis. The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, has said the thousands of British holidaymakers still stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh will be returned home by the end of this week. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-plane-crash-hotel-workers-may-have-hidden-bomb-inside-russian-passengers-luggage-a6728036.html Back to Top

Egyptians not buying bomb theory in jet crash CAIRO -- Egyptian media have reacted with fury as Britain and the United States increasingly point to a bomb as the cause of the Oct. 31 Russian plane crash in Sinai, with many outlets hammering home the same message: Egypt is facing a Western conspiracy that seeks to scare off tourists and destroy the country's economy. U.S. Intelligence officials told CBS News on Monday they believe it is "likely" a bomb brought down the Metrojet Airbus A321, and the focus now is more on how it happened and who is responsible, reported CBS News' justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues. New evidence bolsters bomb theory in Russian jet crash As CBS News reported on Sunday, U.S. Intelligence officials believe it is "likely" a bomb brought down the Russian Metrojet plane. killing the 224 people on board. The warnings of a plot have been widely promoted by opinion-makers in print, online, and on TV, sometimes hinting and sometimes saying flat-out that the West has restricted flights to Egypt not purely out of safety concerns for its citizens but because it wants to undermine the country or prevent President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi from making Egypt too strong. And though they seem wild, these conspiracy theories have apparently tapped into the Egyptian mindset -- so much so that when Russia last Friday grounded all flights to Egypt, some media speculated that Moscow had fallen victim to British pressure and manipulation. "The people defy the conspiracy -- Egypt will not cave in to pressures," the state-owned Al-Gomhuria newspaper proclaimed in a front-page headline this week. "Egypt stands up to 'the West's terrorism,'" an independent daily, El-Watan, headlined. The rhetoric reflects in part the deep reluctance in the press to level serious criticism or suggestion of shortcomings by el-Sisi's government. Egyptian President el-Sisi backs U.S. attacks on ISIS Government and independent media alike have constantly lionized el-Sisi and depicted him as Egypt's savior ever since -- as head of the military -- he led the army's 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after massive protests against Morsi and the power of his Muslim Brotherhood. Since el-Sisi's election as president the following year, most media have continued to laud him as working to bring stability. "Denial on behalf of the state that there is a crisis and then trying to point to some kind of third party is very normal" in Egypt, Hebatalla Taha, an Egypt-focused analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Associated Press. Conspiracy theories often run rampant in the Middle East for a variety of reasons -- poor education, suspicion of others, a lack of government transparency, limitations on speech, and the historical fact that powers inside and outside the region do often work behind the scenes to sway events and conflicts. Often, the theories are politically fueled. Taha said the rhetoric is the "standard fallback" for the state. Private citizens, she said, likely wouldn't have come up with the conspiracy theories on their own, "but they're very likely to adopt what state media is saying." Egypt's media often point to "foreign hands" amid crises. During the 2011 uprising that eventually toppled Hosni Mubarak, state papers accused foreigners of fomenting protests. Over the past two years, commentators have often accused the U.S. of supporting the Brotherhood, which has been declared a terrorist organization, and trying to impose it on Egypt, in response to Western criticism of Morsi's ouster by the military and the subsequent crackdown on Islamists. They also complain that the West is not helping Egypt enough in its fight against terrorism, including the Islamic State's branch in Sinai, which claimed to have downed the plane. But Taha said the reaction to the plane crash is also rooted in fear. Investigation reveals lax security in case of downed Russian airliner The Oct. 31 crash of the Russian jet just after taking off from the Sinai beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh could wreck the slow revival of Egypt's vital tourism industry after five years of turmoil -- particularly after Russia and Britain suspended tourism flights, demanding better airport security. Egyptian authorities have said they are looking at all possible scenarios in the crash. They say speculation should stop until the conclusion of the investigation, which el-Sisi has said could take months. They have bristled at what they call a rush to judgment by British and U.S. officials, who say intelligence suggests the IS branch in Sinai planted a bomb on the Metrojet plane, causing it to break apart in the air, killing all 224 on board. Since Morsi's ouster, the militants have waged a stepped-up insurgency in Sinai and have carried out multiple bombings and killings of police and soldiers in Cairo. Egypt's military has been battling them in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. In the Egyptian media, the flight suspensions and calls for better airport security were seen as unfair and malicious. Even if the cause was a bomb, "it doesn't require an instant and large-scale punishment and criminal defamation against Egypt," wrote the editor-in-chief of the Al-Maqal newspaper and one of Egypt's most prominent TV commentators, Ibrahim Eissa. British Prime Minister David Cameron has gotten the brunt of the criticism. Some saw it as particularly insulting that Britain's suspension of flights last week came the same day el-Sisi began his first official trip to London and that Cameron said at a press conference with el-Sisi that it was "more like than not" that a bomb downed the plane. Other commentators went further, hinting at some sort of collusion or at least a mutual interest between Britain and the Islamic State extremists. Hazem Moneim, a commentator with El-Watan, wrote that the West was "afraid" of Egypt. "Why would Britain issue this statement coinciding with the beginning of el-Sisi's visit, as if they know the truth from its source?" he wrote Saturday. He compared it to a TV drama in which "the evil side contributes to committing the crime, then accuses the other side." In the same paper, Lamis Gaber wrote that London "was very pleased" with the IS claim of responsibility. "As long as the English and (IS) are in political agreement and ideological and strategic harmony, then perhaps the information might be true," she wrote. Moscow's decision to suspend its flights as well threw some of the conspiracy theories into confusion, since Russian President Vladimir Putin is always depicted as a strong supporter of el-Sisi. "Even you, Putin?" the newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm's front page proclaimed. In the largest state newspaper, Al-Ahram, Taha Abdel-Aleem wrote that British and Americans statements on the crash were part of pressure "aiming to empower the Brotherhood and humiliate Egypt, as well as turn public opinion in Russia against its war on terror in Syria" - referring to Moscow's air campaign there. One well-known Egyptian actor even said on a TV talk show that the British prime minister - whom he identified as "John Brown," perhaps muddling the names of previous prime ministers John Major and Gordon Brown - "is in the Muslim Brotherhood." Al-Ahram and other papers also accused Britain of forcing its nationals vacationing in Egypt to leave. Al-Ahram ran a photo of a woman arguing with British Ambassador John Casson at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, with the caption, "We want to resume our trip and don't want to leave," as if she were saying that. In video footage that has gone viral online, the tourist, Clara Dublin, was in fact telling the ambassador, "We want to go home," angry over the confusion in arranging flights out. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/egypt-russian-metrojet-plane-crash-isis-bomb-theory-conspiracy-el-sisi/ Back to Top

Russian plane crash: Who are terror group Al Wilayat Sinai? The ISIS affiliate in Sinai is very different from ISIS in Iraq and Syria Sinai has long been a place with a lot of jihadist activity (CNN)Governments and intelligence experts increasingly believe what brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 over Egypt was no accident. ISIS affiliate Al Wilayat Sinai has claimed responsibility for the crash, which killed 224 people. What do we know about Al Wilayat Sinai? ISIS in Sinai is very different from ISIS, the terror group that currently occupies large parts of Iraq and Syria. It is a mostly local group of jihadists that feed off long-standing grievances that the population of the Sinai peninsula has with the Egyptian state. The group has contact with and has pledged allegiance to ISIS's main group, which has its capital in Raqqa, Syria. But ISIS in Sinai operates largely autonomously, according to various media reports. How did the terrorist group emerge in Sinai? Sinai has long been a region with a lot of jihadist activity -- and the peninsula, with its desert in the north and its mountains in the south, is very difficult to control. Egyptian security forces can only deploy very limited equipment and troops there because the area is supposed to be a demilitarized buffer zone between Egypt and Israel. Furthermore, the indigenous Bedouin population has been cut off from economic and infrastructure development. Many Bedouin villages don't even have electricity and running water. While the vast majority of Bedouin tribal leaders are against religious violence and many even combat ISIS, some Bedouins have joined the group and make up parts of its rank and file. Security in Sinai deteriorated even further after the ousting of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. One of the main jihadist groups to emerge at that time was called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, or "Champions of the Holy House", a reference to Jerusalem and the group's main goal of battling against Israel. It claimed responsibility for various attacks on Egyptian security forces and several bombings of a main gas pipeline that connects Egypt with Israel and Jordan. In 2013 Abdel Fattah Sisi took power as president of Egypt and launched a major and very heavy-handed crackdown on jihadist groups in Sinai and other areas. This also further alienated many in the local population and led to the emergence of the group Wilayat Sinai or "Sinai Province" out of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis What do we know about the leader of Al Wilayat Sinai? Its leader is Abu Osama al-Masri. This nom de guerre is a reference to his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, while al-Masri is Arabic for "Egypt" to show that he is Egyptian. ISIS Fast Facts Al-Masri directed further attacks on Egyptian security forces and also on Israel. In 2014 he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The ISIS affiliate in Sinai is believed to operate mostly in the northern part of Sinai near the border with Gaza and Israel. According to reports it possesses mostly light weapons, but also some shoulder-fired anti-aircraft rockets. A video published by the group purports to show it taking down an Egyptian military helicopter -- but it is believed that such weapons could not take down a cruising airline. While experts believe that the ISIS affiliate in Sinai is fairly small in number, many say they are one of the most active ISIS affiliates. If Al Wilayat Sinai did bomb the Russian airliner, it could indicate that the terror group is far more dangerous than many previously believed. Security Crackdown Looms as Bomb Blamed for Sinai Jet Crash As tourists abandon the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, government and aviation officials warned that global airport security will need to be reviewed if suspicions are confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian jetliner over Sinai. While officials don't have enough evidence yet to conclude the incident was the result of a blast, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the view of the British authorities was that the disaster was "more likely than not caused by an explosive device." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the possibility of a terror attack "is being taken very seriously." Investigators are trying to tease as much as possible from the Metrojet Airbus A321's two black boxes, recovered from the Sinai peninsula, where the plane's pieces fell to the ground Oct. 31. All 224 people aboard died in the crash. A last-second noise heard on a cockpit recording has become the focus of an Egypt-led probe. "If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active," Hammond told BBC Television's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. People purporting to represent Islamic State claimed the downing of the jet was retaliation for Russia's bombing the extremist group in Syria. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh had security problems, including lax searches and a frequently malfunctioning baggage scanning device. Tighter Rules Emirates airline, ranked world No. 1 by international traffic, is already looking at its security procedures in anticipation of tighter rules, President Tim Clark told reporters in Dubai on Sunday. "As we speak, we're reviewing our procedures in terms of security and ramp handling and access to our aircraft," Clark said. "We have 22 cities in Africa, multiple cities in west Asia -- India, Pakistan, et cetera -- all of these will have to be reviewed to make sure we're as safe as we can be." Britain banned commercial flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea in the wake of the crash, leaving thousands of vacationers stranded. Other countries, including Russia, followed and travel warnings ensued with Norway, Finland and Denmark all advising against all non-essential trips. Hammond said those trying to get home on unscheduled flights face delays of two to three days at most. Egypt's benchmark EGX 30 Index of stocks slumped 2.6 percent at the close in Cairo, the most in two months. Extra Costs "What we have got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the best and that airport security reflects the local conditions, and where there is a higher local threat level that will mean higher levels of security are required," Hammond said. "That may mean additional costs, it may mean additional delays at airports." Hammond said the position on whether to ask Parliament to approve British attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria had not changed. The government will only propose such a motion when there is cross-party support, he said. Islamic State's decade-old Egyptian branch, a Sinai-based group known originally as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, stepped up its campaign against the government after the military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in 2013. The following year, it changed its name to Sinai Province and pledged allegiance to the rapidly expanding Islamic State, acquiring more powerful weaponry and ramping up the boldness of its attacks with an assault on an Egyptian frigate this past July. A senior Israeli official said Sunday that Sinai Province would see its prestige and arms pipeline grow if it turns out it planted a bomb on the Russian plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record, predicted Egypt would crack down harshly on the group if it embarrassed President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi with an attack. Russian Inspectors The first of three teams of inspectors Russia has sent to audit safety and prepare recommendations in key Egypt's airports has arrived, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on state TV. Clark said he expects U.S. and European aviation authorities will eventually make some "fairly stringent" demands of the industry as a result of the crash. "These are game-changers to our industry," Clark said. "There are many airports in the world where if people wanted to do some pretty bad things they could do them." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-08/hammond-sees-u-k-security-crackdown-if-jet-crash-caused-by-bomb Back to Top International inspectors examine scanning of passengers, cargo and baggage at Cairo airport FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, file photo released by the Prime Minister's office, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, right, looks at the remains of a crashed Russian passenger jet in Hassana, Egypt. Egyptian media have reacted with fury as Britain and the U.S. increasingly point to a bomb as the cause of the Russian plane crash, and many have hammered home to the public that their country is facing a Western conspiracy to scare off tourists and destroy the economy. (Suliman el-Oteify/Egyptian Prime Minister's Office via AP, File) CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian officials say European, Russian and Middle Eastern teams are inspecting security measures at Cairo's international airport relating to passenger and cargo aircraft travelling to their countries. The head of Cairo's international airport, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Genina says the officials from Russia, Holland, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are examining the scanning of passengers, cargo and baggage as they enter the airport and make their way to aircraft. Security guards and caterers are also being inspected. Several countries and airlines have suspended new flights to Egypt because of security concerns as suspicions focused on the possibility that a bomb caused an Oct. 31 plane crash of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people onboard.