Quote:Egypt and Russia appeared to back away from their assertions that a Russian passenger jet crashed in the Sinai desert because of a technical fault on Sunday after it was revealed the plane broke up in the air and officials conceded the aircraft could have been brought down by a bomb onboard.
In the hours after the Airbus A321 crashed on Saturday - killing all 224 aboard and spreading debris and bodies over miles of desert - both governments were quick to say the doomed airliner appeared to be the victim of mechanical failure.
But on Sunday evening Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's president, was speaking more cautiously, saying it was too soon tell the cause and that an "extensive and complicated technical study" was needed.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has claimed credit for destroying the aircraft, saying it was revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria on behalf the Assad regime.

While experts believe it was flying too high to be hit by an ISIS missile, an Egyptian official in the civil aviation ministry said it was possible the plane was brought down by an explosive planted onboard.
The official said that a mechanical failure was still thought to be the most likely explanation but that it was too early to draw a firm conclusion. He confirmed the pilot had not issued any distress call, suggesting the aircraft suffered a sudden calamity. Viktor Sorochenko, a Russian aviation official who inspected the crash site, said the Kogalymavia-operated flight "broke up in the air" as he explained why the debris was spread over eight square miles (20sq km).
"Disintegration of the fuselage took place in the air, and the fragments are scattered around a large area," he said.
Investigators have reportedly begun examining both of the aircraft's black boxes in the hope of learning what happened in its final moments.

A grainy mobile phone video circulated online purports to shows the moment the airliner exploded before hurtling down to earth, but its origins are unclear and it could not be verified as authentic. However, it appeared to chime with accounts from eyewitnesses who said the plane fell flaming from the sky.
Yves Trotignon, a former French intelligence agent, noted that ISIS's claim of responsibility was vague in detail. "The statement does not say they shot it down, but that they destroyed it," he told Le Parisien. "You could imagine explosives on board, or sabotage."
Terrorism experts said Isil had never claimed an attack it did not carry out. Mathieu Guidere, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Toulouse, said ISISl "is very well established in the Sinai, has infiltrated almost all organisations and infrastructure, so it is quite possible that a fighter sabotaged the plane at the airport before it took off or placed a device on board".

Quote:An Egyptian ground service official who examined the plane before takeoff told the Associated Press it appeared to be in good condition: "Everything checked out in 35 minutes."

However, a Russian TV channel said a pilot had expressed doubts about its condition. Natalya Trukhacheva, identified as the wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev, was reported as saying he had complained before the flight "that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired".

Tracy Riddle Wrote:Judging by the wreckage, it does look like a bomb exploded on board.

If ISIS is really a genuine Islamic fundamentalist group (not some Mossad/CIA cutout), it's hard to see their motivation in attacking the Russians and bringing even more firepower down on their heads.

Quote:If ISIS is really a genuine Islamic fundamentalist group (not some Mossad/CIA cutout), it's hard to see their motivation in attacking the Russians and bringing even more firepower down on their heads.

Drew Phipps Wrote:

Quote:If ISIS is really a genuine Islamic fundamentalist group (not some Mossad/CIA cutout), it's hard to see their motivation in attacking the Russians and bringing even more firepower down on their heads.

If we pretend for a minute that ISIS is, in fact, some sort of CIA/Mossad false flag organization, then to wrap the operation up successfully, you'd ideally want a) international consensus/support to wipe them out (via indiscriminate terror attacks against both Assad's allies and enemies); and b) a way to extract your operatives (possibly some staged bombing runs against ISIS facilities) combined with a convenient way to conceal the re-patriation of your covert agents out of the country (possibly by playing a shell game with deploying/re-patriating Special Forces).

Drew Phipps Wrote:"An Egyptian aviation official says the pilot of Metrojet Flight 7K9268 had reported technical difficulties and planned an emergency landing at the nearest airport "

This was in the original report. This statement is why I didn't post the initial AOL story to this website. It is interesting now that this call from the pilot appears to have disappeared from the official narrative of the event (as per the CNN story this AM).