Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has reportedly rubbished claims by a branch of the Islamic State group who claimed responsibility for the downing of the Russian plane.
The president’s remarks came as a top US intelligence official said that it was unlikely ISIS could have been involved in the Kogalymavia Airline disaster over the Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people who were o board.
Experts investigating the cause of the crash have claimed that the fact that the debris and bodies were scattered over a wide area points to mid-air disintegration of the aircraft.
On Monday, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he could not rule out ISIS involvement in Saturday’s incident, but thought it “unlikely”.
Earlier on Monday, the airline issued a statement saying that the plane had come down due to “external” factors and ruled out any technical failures or human error in the disaster.
“The only explanation is some kind of external action,” senior Kogalymavia executive Alexander Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow, without elaborating.
The head of Russia’s aviation authority Alexander Neradko however criticized the airline’s comments, saying they were “premature and not based on any real facts”.
Analysis of the planes ‘black boxes’, which could solve the mystery of what happened to the doomed jet, is expected to begin on Tuesday, according to Egyptian officials.
