Putin agrees to suspend Russian flights to Egypt

British intelligence officials have reportedly uncovered evidence that suggests the Russian jet that crashed in Egypt on Saturday was brought down by a bomb smuggled into the cargo hold.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, however Russian and Egyptian authorities initially denied that claim.

A spokesperson from Downing Street confirmed late on Thursday the plan to allow citizens to return home safely.

These flights would be subject to “additional security measures”, a government spokesman said in a statement, with passengers unable to check bags into the plane hold.

Egyptian authorities have suspended rescue flights for British holidaymakers stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh, easyJet has said.

“We are working with the UK Government at the highest level on a solution”, it added in a statement.

“Our aim is to get as many people home as soon as possible”, John Casson, the British ambassador to Egypt, said at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

The Foreign Office is continuing to advise against all but essential travel to the city.

With worldwide concerns mounting, European airlines readied to bring home thousands of tourists from Sharm Al Sheikh, a magnet for hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.

The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner said Britain’s security services suspect someone with access to the plane’s baggage compartment inserted an explosive device shortly before the plane departed. Prime Minister David Cameron conceded the crash was “more likely than not” caused by a terrorist bomb.

Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands also suspended flights to the resort.

The low-priced carrier said eight out of 10 scheduled flights out of the Sinai region wouldn’t take off on Friday but Monarch and British Airways still planned to operate their flights.

Several other countries and airlines have followed the U.K.’s lead in cancelling flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.

The sweeping suspension of flights to all of Egypt goes further than the United Kingdom and Ireland, which have banned flights to/from Sharm el-Sheikh, from which Metrojet flight 9268 took off bound for St. Petersburg before crashing in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.