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American and British intelligence authorities have suggested that a bomb from the dreaded Islamic State might have caused the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt’s Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, on Saturday.
However, they said they are yet to reach a formal conclusion, while the Egyptian authorities have already dismissed the claim that an IS bomb brought down the plane.
Russian experts, meanwhile, say that it is too early to conclude anything.
According to reports in the US and British media, the UK's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said his government believes there is a "significant possibility" that an explosive device caused the crash.
Britain had earlier suspended flights to and from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, from where the flight had departed.
Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed on Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula after breaking apart midair. It was en route to St Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
News agencies quoted an unnamed US official as saying that they have reached a 'tentative conclusion' after intercepting communications that an IS affiliate in the Sinai peninsula had planted an explosive device on the plane and 'someone at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport helped get the bomb onto the plane'.
'A bomb is a highly possible scenario,' another US official was quoted as saying.
However, the officials stressed that no formal conclusion has been reached by the US intelligence and that they haven't seen the forensic evidence from the crash investigation.
On Tuesday, US media reported that a military satellite had detected a "heat flash" over the Sinai at the time of the crash. It said data was still being analysed and that although the flash could have been caused by a bomb, a fuel tank or engine explosion was also possible.
Image: The remains of a Russian airliner are inspected by military investigators at the crash site at the al-Hasanah area in El Arish city, north Egypt. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters.