Bomb downed plane in Egypt:: Russia

Moscow steps up attack against IS locations in Syria.

Hours after confirming for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb brought down a Russian charter jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt more than two weeks ago, killing all 224 people aboard, Russia joined France in bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.

Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at IS targets in the same area.

Russia struck Raqqa with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles from a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean, the RBC news agency reported, citing sources in the Defence Ministry. The agency said it was the first time Russia had fired cruise missiles from a submarine during a war. There were also news agency reports of Russian fighter-bombers hitting IS targets in Syria, but these could not be confirmed. The strike came after President Vladimir Putin ordered an intensification of attacks following Russian confirmation that the crash of the Airbus A321 in Egypt had been caused by a terrorist attack.

In Washington, a Defence Department official confirmed that the Russians had given notice before launching “a significant number of strikes in Raqqa.” On Tuesday, after hedging for 17 days, Russian officials acknowledged that the jet had been downed by a bomb. “We can say definitely that this was a terrorist act,” Alexander V. Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service or FSB, said in remarks to Russia’s Security Council on Monday night.

An “improvised explosive device” detonated soon after the plane took off from the resort city of Sharm-el-Sheikh, he said, adding “the plane disintegrated in mid-air, which explains the widely scattered fuselage pieces.” — New York Times News Service

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