Islamic State has made clear its intent to attack civilian airliners and three times claimed credit for downing of Russian airlinerIf a bomb did indeed bring down the Russian airliner over the Sinai,Islamic State clearly tops a shortlist of culprits. Setting aside for a moment the fact that the group has claimed three times that it caused the plane to crash, there are no other known jihadist groups operating in Egypt with the means or reach to contain done this.Suspicion has zeroed in on the airport in Sharm el-Sheikh from where the doomed plane departed. In addition to the ballistics tests and analysis of phone and internet traffic, and intensive work is being done on airport staff,in particular baggage handlers and anyone else who had access to the 737 in the hours before its final flight. A growing consensus among regional diplomats and intelligence officers is that placing a bomb on board would almost certainly contain required benefit from inside the airport. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com