The photo of a Schweppes Gold can next to what appear to be pieces of an explosive device – the photo is labeled an “improvised explosive device” – was included in group’s English-language online magazine “Dabiq”.
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Under the photo, a caption reads: “Image of IED [improvised explosive device] used to bring down the Russian airliner”. Russian Federation launched strikes against ISIS in Syria in September, a decision that was heavily criticised by the West and several Gulf states who believed Russian Federation was not striking enough ISIS targets.
All 224 passengers onboard were killed in the incident.
“To bring down an airplane, you don’t need to blow it apart, you just need enough to rupture the pressure hull of the aircraft and the air pressure will do the work for you”, former Central Intelligence Agency officer and an worldwide security analyst Bob Ayers told the AP, adding that it would be rather simple to take down a plane with a bomb like the one shown in ISIS’ magazine.
The Russian passenger jet crashed shortly after leaving Sharm al-Sheikh airport on October 31.
Just hours after the crash, Sinai Province said in a statement that it had destroyed the plane because of Russian military involvement in Syria. The group also published a picture of plane debris with images of passports superimposed on top, which are said to have belonged to the “dead crusaders”.
Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, said traces of foreign-made explosive had been found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers’ personal belongings.
They claim that such a small group of radicals managed to put France into a state-of-emergency frenzy and encourages followers to engage in more, similar attacks.
IS released the photo the same day that Russian media outlet Kommersant published an article citing an unnamed source close to the plane investigation who said that the bomb had been placed in the main cabin of the craft, and not in the cargo compartment as initially reported.
“Maybe today this grand coalition with Russian Federation is possible because it has evolved”, he said, referring to President Francois Hollande’s call to create a large coalition against the group. ISIS bomb makers (and al Qaeda before them) have been working for several years to flawless devices that could pass through airport and airline security scanners.
The two explosives experts said that based on the photo, the bomb may have been detonated by someone physically on the plane.
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Egyptian authorities confirmed two workers at Sharm El-Sheikh airport are accused of aiding those responsible for the atrocity.
