Off the wire
• 2nd LD: Some Turkish troops leaving camp near Iraq's Mosul  • China pinpoints major economic tasks for 2016  • S. African rand recovers following appointment of new finance minister  • Roundup: Singapore's aviation maintenance service sector outlook expected to remain challenging next year  • Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.69 pct  • Two suicide bombers killed in Far North Region of Cameroon  • Roundup: Philippine bourse closes higher despite drop of U.S. equities  • U.S. urges more vigilance as WTO talks kick off in Kenya  • Robot assists in world's first blood vessel stitch  • Singapore firm convicted of transferring money to nuclear-related programs to DPRK  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: Egypt says no evidence so far of terrorist action in Russian plane crash

Xinhua, December 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Egypt said on Monday that a preliminary probe has found no evidence that an illegal or terrorist action was behind the Russian plane crash in Sinai in October that killed all 224 people on board.

"A technical investigative committee has completed a preliminary investigation and has not so far found anything indicating any illegal intervention or terrorist action," the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said in the statement.

Ayman al-Moqaddam, head of the committee, said the investigation will continue until a final conclusion could be made, according to the statement.

The Cairo-led committee consists of Egyptian, Russian, French and German experts and several other airline consultants.

In mid-November, Moscow said a bomb attack brought down the Russian passenger jet and killed all 224 people on board.

The Russian findings came a few days after deadly terror attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people and wounded more than 300.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for both the Paris attacks and the downing of the Russian passenger plane.

The crash led some states, including Britain and Russia, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals from there over the possibility that a bomb was behind it. Endit