Islamists fighting an insurgency in Sinai pledged allegiance to Isis last year
Isis has claimed responsibility for shooting down the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt today, despite authorities maintaining that a technical problem caused the disaster.
A faction of the terrorist group called Wilayat Sinai has mounted an Islamist insurgency in the region where Metrojet flight 9268 went down, launching a series of suicide bombings and attacks on the authorities.
A statement published by Isis’ propaganda agency said: “The fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders. They were all killed, thanks be to God.”
It did not say how the aircraft was supposedly taken down but supporters were also sharing a video claiming to show it exploding and going down trailing smoke, which many viewers dismissed as fake.
Wilayat Sinai militants do have shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles called Manpads, the BBC reports, but security experts say that they would not have been able to strike the Airbus A321 as it flew at 31,000ft.
Egyptian security sources said there was no indication that the plane had been shot down or blown up.
Awdalpress.com
EGYPT
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