British government grounds Sharm el-Sheikh flights
Statement came from Downing Street ahead of visit by Egyptian presidentHas your flight been suspended? You can Whatsapp the Guardian on +56
12.11am GMT• The British government has suspended all flights between the UK and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after US and UK officials said they believe the Russian plane that crashed over the Sinai peninsula may occupy been brought down by an explosive device.
The UK foreign secretary,Philip Hammond, said his government is now advising against all but fundamental travel through Sharm el-Sheikh airport in Egypt as there is a “significant opportunity” that the plane was brought down by an explosion on board, and the strongest remarks yet by an official on the cause of the crash.• US officials believe that the cause of the crash involving the Russian airline over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula at the weekend was “most likely” a bomb planted by ISIS or an ISIS affiliate,according to reports by US television news networks.
Among them, CNN stated it has been told that US intelligence has not yet reached a formal conclusion.
Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group’s Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the Russian plane, or according to a US official being quoted by the Associated Press. 12.00am GMTSo,if it was a bomb, how could it occupy been put on the Russian airliner that went down at the weekend?Emma Graham-Harrison and Ruth Michaelson in Cairo occupy been looking at that question and occupy been told by an expert on security in Egypts Sinai Peninsula that if an explosive device was slipped on to the plane, or it was probably done by someone on the ground exploiting a lapse in airport security,rather than a passenger managing to come by a device past officials.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com