Putin confirms bomb brought down Russian jet in Egypt

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday confirmed that a bomb attack had brought down a passenger jet, en route to St Petersburg from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, killing all 224 people on board.

Putin vowed vengeance and pledged to step up Moscow's air strikes in Syria in response to the attack last month which was claimed by a group linked to the Islamic State. However, the Russian President did not blame any specific terrorist group for the mishap.

Russia's security agency also announced a $50 million (Rs 325 crore) reward for information leading to capture of those responsible for the attack.

"The murder of our people in Sinai is among the bloodiest crimes in terms of victims. This will stay with us forever but will not stop us from finding and punishing the criminals," Putin said in comments released on Tuesday.

"We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them," he said.

Russia had earlier denied a possible terror angle leading to the crashing of Metrojet Flight 9268 in Egypt's Sinai peninsula last month.

According to reports, Putin was informed by Russia's security chief that the passenger jet, carrying tourists back from Sharm el-Sheikh resort on October 31, was brought down shortly after take-off over by a home-made bomb containing explosives of 'foreign production' with a force equivalent to one kilogramme of TNT.

"We can say unequivocally that this was a terrorist attack," Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said.

The Russian President’s confirmation that a bomb downed the jet comes days after a chain of attacks, claimed by the IS, killed over 150 people in Paris.

However, Putin did not specifically point fingers at the IS for the attack but pledged to step up Russia's ongoing air strikes in Syria to target the IS and other 'terrorist' groups.

"The combat work of our aviation in Syria must not only be continued. It must be intensified so that the criminals understand that vengeance is inevitable," Putin said.

Putin ordered Russia's foreign ministry to contact all Moscow's partners for assistance and said that it was counting on 'our friends' to help find and punish those responsible for the attack.

The attack was the deadliest against a Russian target since the Beslan school massacre by rebels from the North Caucasus in 2004.