Jerusalem tipped off UK, US on cause of plane crash in Sinai Peninsula, according to CNN; Jerusalem declines to comment

Israel provided intel on suspected bomb on Russian jet — report

 

By Times of Israel staff, AP and AFP November 8, 2015, 9:23 pm

 

 

Debris from the A321 Russian airliner at the site of the crash in Wadi el-Zolomat, a mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, on November 1, 2015. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

 

 

Israel provided intelligence regarding the Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula, which indicated that a bomb had detonated on board, CNN reported on Sunday.

An unnamed US official and diplomatic source said that Jerusalem handed over information about the blast to the US and UK. One US official told the news outlet he was “99.9% certain” the plane had been bombed, while another said it was “likely.”

Israeli officials declined to comment on the report.

Earlier, a member of the Egyptian investigation team said they were nearly certain explosives had brought the plane down, killing all 224 passengers on board.

“The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb,” an investigator — who asked to not be identified — told Reuters. “We are 90 percent sure it was a bomb.”

As for the slim chance of another explanation to the crash, the investigator only commented, “I can’t discuss this now.”

US and British officials have cited intelligence reports indicating that the October 31 flight from the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg was brought down by a bomb on the plane.
Most of the passengers were from St. Petersburg and the surrounding region.




Read More Here

...................................................................................................