Egypt: No evidence so far of terrorism in metrojet plane crash

Egyptian investigators have so far found no evidence of terrorism in October’s deadly crash of a Russian passenger jet in Sinai, authorities said Monday, offering a sharply contrasting view from that of Moscow.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for both the Paris attacks and the downing of the Russian passenger plane.

But Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said it had completed a preliminary report on the crash and said it had so far found no evidence of a criminal act.

In response to Monday’s findings, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov re-iterated that “our experts concluded this was a terrorist attack”.

The terror group published a photo of an aluminum soft drink can, with a detonator and switch next to it, in its English-language magazine, claiming the can housed the explosives that brought down the plane on October 31, not long after takeoff.

The St. Petersburg-bound airliner, operated by Metrojet, disintegrated over the northern Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh.

On November 6 Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed with the recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee and ordered to suspend Egypt flights.

He said the search for wreckage extended more than 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the main crash site and that the committee provided all parties that are part of the investigation, including the insurance company and Russian working teams, the chance to examine the wreckage.

The Egyptian government has dismissed statements made by the United States and Britain which back the Russian assertion of a terrorist attack, saying that only an official probe can reach such a conclusion.

In addition, it was said that the global commission for the investigation of the crash of the Russian airplane was studying information about the pilots, the technical condition of the aircraft and its latest routes.