Addressing a claim of responsibility that a group linked to the Islamic State issued shortly after the crash, el-Sissi said the comments were meant to damage “the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt”, according to excerpts from his remarks posted on the BBC website.
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One USA intelligence official said, “It’s unlikely”.
Almost all of the passengers aboard were Russian tourists returning to St. Petersburg from the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt’s president has dismissed Islamic State’s claim it brought down the airliner that crashed in the Sinai peninsula as “propaganda”.
Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in televised remarks that Russian experts already had conducted a preliminary inspection of the recorders and had seen information from Egypt’s flight control radars, but he wouldn’t give further details.
Alexander Smirnov, the deputy general director of Metrojet, said an “external impact” could explain why the Airbus A321-200 broke up in mid-flight.
On Monday, Kogalymavia executive Alexander Smirnov said that the company had ruled out “technical problems” and “human error” as the cause of the crash.
Russian officials first said Sunday that it appeared the plane had broken up in midair – fueling speculation of a possible plot involving explosives – and officials on Monday did little to dispel those fears.
People light candles during a day of national mourning for the plane crash victims at Dvortsovaya Square in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation on November 1.
The cause of the crash still remains a mystery.
Russian authorities confirmed yesterday that they had recovered the plane’s two black boxes and that they are in good condition.
USA military said it has evidence that rules out theories that Metrojet A321 flight 7K9268 was brought down with a missile, instead suggesting there could have been an explosion on the plane itself.
“For instance it claimed that the recent prison raid by Kurdish and United States special forces were a total failure, when in fact video evidence surfaced showed them freeing the hostages”, he said.
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Family members had already been providing DNA samples at a crisis centre set up near Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, now the site of an impromptu memorial where people have brought flowers and cuddly toys to commemorate the victims, many of them children.
