Russian A321 plane was blown up by homemade explosive device equivalent up to one kg of TNT, state-run news agency TASS reports with reference to Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
A version of a terrorist attack emerged in early November when British secret services intercepted communications between militants in the Sinai Peninsula.
“It can be unambiguously said that this is a terrorist act,” FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said on Tuesday.
According to him, the traces of a foreign-made explosive were found in the airliner debris and the passengers’ belongings.
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“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.
Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian security services to concentrate on search for those involved in the terrorist act on board the A321 airliner in Egypt.
The FSB has declared a $50-mln reward for information about those responsible for the plane crash: “For providing evidence that will contribute to the detention of criminals a reward of $50 million will be paid.”
On October 31, a Russian Metrojet plane crash-landed shortly after take-off from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheik resort. The plane had been en route to St Petersburg when it crashed 23 minutes into its journey, scattering bodies and fragments of the planes over a wide area in the Sinai Province.
The plane was carrying 217 passengers, including 25 children, there were seven crew members on board. All 224 people on the Airbus 321 – most of them Russians – died.
Belsat.eu, following TASS
