Egypt says no 'terrorist action' in plane crash
December 14, 2015
The head of Egypt's civil aviation ministry said on Monday that authorities did not discover any "illegal intervention or terrorist action" in its preliminary report of the Russian airliner crash that killed all 224 people on board.
"The technical investigative committee has so far not found anything indicating any illegal intervention or terrorist action," Ayman el-Muqadam, who is heading the Egyptian investigation into the October 31 crash, said in a statement.
The "Islamic State" militant group's brand operating in Sinai claimed responsibility for downing the plane, saying it had smuggled explosives onto the aircraft.
Egypt has struggled against a two-year Islamist insurgency based in the North Sinai region, which has witnessed hundreds of police and military personnel killed.
El-Muqadam added that investigators analyzed the aircraft's 38 computers and two engine computers, noting that they were reviewing the technical details of the plane along with repairs made since it was manufactured in 1977.
"The committee continues its work concerning the technical investigation," the statement said.
Russia upholds conclusion
However, Moscow on November 17 announced that its investigation concluded that the flight that took off from the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Petersburg was downed by a bomb, a view shared by aviation experts. US and UK officials have also said that intelligence suggested the "Islamic State" brought down the plane.
"I can remind you of the conclusion of our experts from the special services, who came to the conclusion that it was a terrorist action," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov after declining to comment directly on the report, reported AP news agency.
Following the crash, Russia suspended all flights to Egypt, dealing a massive blow to the country's tourism industry, which has struggled to recover following mass protests that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The UK also followed suit by suspending air links to Sharm el-Sheikh.
ls/cw (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)