This undated image made available in the Islamic State’s English-language magazine Dabiq claims to show the bomb that was used to blow up a Metrojet passenger plane bound for St. Petersburg
The Islamic State group has released a photo of a bomb hidden in a soft drink can that it said had brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month.
Yesterday’s disclosure of the new violence by the militants came as Russian and French warplanes continued their stepped-up airstrikes against IS targets in Syria. The attacks on civilians in Paris and aboard the Russian jetliner and the killings of hostages have galvanized international determination to confront the extremists.
The photo of the can and other materials, which has not been corroborated, was released by the group’s English-language online magazine. It showed a can of Schweppes Gold, a soft drink sold in Egypt, and what appeared to be other bomb components next to it.
The Metrojet Airbus 321-200 crashed in the Sinai desert shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Petersburg. All 224 people aboard, mostly Russian tourists, were killed.
In the magazine, the group said it “discovered a way to compromise the security at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport,” without providing details.
It said it initially planned to bring down a plane from one of the countries taking part in the U.S.-led coalition’s air campaign against IS militants in Syria and Iraq but changed the target to a Russian jetliner after Moscow began its airstrikes in Syria in September.
The extremists, who have a powerful affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, previously claimed to have downed the jetliner but did not give out details of how the attack was carried out.
IS also released a photo of what it said were passports belonging to dead passengers from the Metrojet flight.
Russia’s FSB security service said Tuesday the Metrojet flight had crashed as a result of “a terrorist act” — a bomb containing the equivalent of 1 kilogram of TNT that exploded aboard the jet, causing it to break apart in the air. Egyptian authorities have not said what caused the crash, saying an investigation is still underway.
Bob Ayers, a former CIA officer and an international security analyst, said it would be “easy” to bring down a commercial airliner with a device hidden in a soda can.
“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,” he said. A can with a device inside could “blow a really nice hole” in an airplane, he said.
Col.-Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, a spokesman for Russia’s military general staff, said it is developing plans for joint military operations with France in Syria. President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which is deployed in the Mediterranean, to cooperate with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
“When the Charles de Gaulle comes to the shores of Syria, joint military work will be organized,” Kartapolov said, according to Russian news agencies. He added that Russian warplanes carried out 59 sorties Wednesday, destroying 149 “terrorist objects.” The attacks included 12 missiles fired from long-range Tu-160 bombers in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, he added. Joseph Krauss, Cairo, AP
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