Mechanic reportedly accused in EgyptAir crash claimed by ISIS

A cousin of the mechanic, who has not been identified, was a member of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to the report. “You should probably ask the intelligence services about that”, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The Reuters report further states that “two airport policemen and a baggage handler” have also been arrested, which would seem to imply that the bomb went through several hands before ending up on the doomed plane. “But there is a possibility that they were just not doing their jobs properly”, said another source.

ISIS’s Egypt affiliate is waging an insurgency in parts of the Sinai, although mostly far from the tourist resorts along its Red Sea coast.

The sources reported that none of the alleged conspirators have been prosecuted yet.

To date Egypt has maintained it has found no evidence that the MetroJet flight was brought down by extremism.

Then in the IS magazine, Dabiq, a photo of a Schweppes soft drink can that the terrorists claimed was an improvised bomb that brought down the jet, was published.

The EgyptAir official told Reuters that state authorities had thoroughly investigated all employees at Sharm el-Sheikh airport and had traced their family connections, and did not find any evidence linking them to the incident.

If Egypt officially confirms that a bomb brought down the plane, Cairo could potentially have to make compensation payments to the families of the victims.

He said: “Any employee who shows sympathy to militants is prevented from going to work in any airport”.

“We are awaiting results of the investigation”, a ministry of interior source told Reuters.

It is believed his cousin had joined the terror group, also known as Daesh, in Syria 18 months before the doomed flight crashed last October.