Russia security chief recommends halting Egypt flights

MOSCOW, Russia — The head of Russia’s FSB security service on Friday recommended halting flights to Egypt as an investigation seeks to uncover the reasons why a Russian passenger jet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last Saturday.

“Until we have determined the true reasons for what happened, I consider it expedient to stop flights by Russian aviation to Egypt,” FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said in televised comments at the start of an emergency meeting of Russia’s anti-terrorist committee.

All 224 people on board the Airbus died when it crashed shortly after takeoff from the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, headed for St. Petersburg. Both US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron believe a bomb may have downed the plane, with reports Friday suggesting their theory was based on intercepted communications.

With concerns over security mounting, European airlines readied to bring home thousands of tourists from Sharm el-Sheikh, and there were angry scenes at the airport as thousands of anxious Britons who had hoped to fly home were sent back to their hotels after Egypt blocked additional repatriation flights.

In a sign of mounting fears about the security of baggage handling in Egypt, Dutch carrier KLM announced that it had banned check-in luggage on an early flight from Cairo, mirroring moves taken by several European airlines on Sharm flights.

The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the disaster, while Cairo and Moscow have sought to downplay the suggestion of an attack.

But Obama told a US radio station: “I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously,” while emphasizing it was too early to say for sure.

In London, where Cameron hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday, the British premier told reporters it was “more likely than not that it was a terrorist bomb” that caused the crash.

And The Times newspaper reported on Friday that electronic communications intercepted by British and US spies suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.

A joint intelligence operation used satellites to uncover the chatter between militants in Sinai and Syria, it said.

“The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff,” the newspaper reported, without giving a source.

The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner said Britain’s security services suspect someone with access to the plane’s baggage compartment inserted an explosive device shortly before the plane departed.