Russian airliner crash in Egypt caused by terror attack - Federal Security Service

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The recent crash of the Russian airliner on the Sinai peninsula was caused by a terrorist attack with the use of a self-made explosive device, Russia’s Federal Security Service Chief Alexander Bortnikov said on Tuesday. The explosive had a power of up to 1 kilogram in TNT equivalent, Bortnikov reported to President Vladimir Putin at a meeting whose stenograph was posted on the Kremlin’s website. "It can be unambiguously said that this is a terrorist act," Bortnikov said. According to him, the traces of a foreign-made explosive were found in the airliner debris and the passengers’ belongings. "In the estimates of our specialists, a self-made explosive device with its power of up to 1 kilogram in TNT equivalent went off aboard the airliner, due to which the plane broke up in the air and this explains the spread of the plane's fuselage parts over a large distance," the Federal Security Service chief said. Russian Kogalymavia’s A321 plane en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 around 30 minutes after takeoff in North Sinai, 100 kilometers to the south of Al-Arish. None of the carried 217 passengers and seven crewmembers survived in the crash. Read more