Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

IS Takes Responsibility for Russia Plane Crash, Russia Govt. Scoffs

ALTERNATIVE CROP - In this photo taken on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, The Russian airline Kogalymavia’s Airbus A321 with a tail number of EI-ETJ on an airstrip of Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport, outside Moscow, Russia. Russia's civil air agency is expected to have a news conference shortly to talk about the Russian Metrojet passenger plane EI-ETJ, that Egyptian authorities say has crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. (AP Photo/Tatiana Belyakova)

Kayode Sesan

The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for bringing down the Russian Metrojet plane in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — but it has offered no evidence and is not known to have the capability to do so according to reports by Yahoo! News.

It is not clear what caused the plane crash Saturday morning that killed 224 people on the flight from Egypt to St. Petersburg. Egyptian officials say the pilot reported technical difficulties and wanted to make an emergency landing. The Metrojet crashed in an area where Egyptian forces have been battling an Islamic insurgency.

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov has scoffed at the IS claim, telling the Interfax news agency that such reports “must not be considered reliable.”

Militants in northern Sinai have not to date shot down any commercial airliners or fighter jets but there have been media reports that they have acquired Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles. These missiles, however, are only effective against low-flying aircraft or helicopters.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top investigative body, opened an investigation into the crash looking out for possible violations of flight safety procedures.

Meanwhile, the black box that was aboard the Russian aircraft crashed on Saturday over Sinai was found at the crash site, according a statement of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry. Bodies of at least 100 people, including 5 children, have been also found at the crash site.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kemal said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash ruling the plane had been shot down or blown up.

 

__________

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

World

Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane, killing all 74 people aboard, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war being...

News

President Vladimir Putin of Russia says his country is prepared to deepen bilateral ties with countries pursuing their national interests against the West. He...

Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa stated in court documents made public on Tuesday that detaining Vladimir Putin would be equivalent to declaring war...

News

Moscow confirmed Thursday it had exchanged US basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been jailed in Russia, for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who...

Copyright ©