Sinai plane crash:

Bomb may have downed airliner, US and UK say

American and British intelligence suggests the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt – killing all 224 people on board – may have been brought down by a bomb. However US and UK officials say they have yet to reach a formal conclusion.

The Summer Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia

The plane, flight 7K9268 bound for St Petersburg, crashed in Egypt's Sinai desert just 23 minutes after take-off from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday (October 31). Most of those on board the plane, which was operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, were Russian.

A Kogalymavia Airbus A321-200, operating as MetroJet seen on approach to Kansai International Airport in October 2013. Two years later, this airframe was destroyed in the crash of Flight 9268.

Britain has suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh indefinitely and UK nationals already there would be helped to leave once extra security measures were put in place. The move came during a visit to Britain by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and the decision to suspend flights was made "very reluctantly".

Naama Beach in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh

Said UK’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond,

"We have to put the safety and security of British nationals above all other considerations."

US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, 3 March 2013

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called the UK response premature and unwarranted, and that Egypt had taken "exceptional measures" to enhance security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport. Regardless, security concerns and the Sinai plane crash are expected to be high on the agenda when UK Prime Minister David Cameron and President Sisi hold talks on Thursday (November 5).

Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport

Over in the US, officials have reached the "tentative conclusion", after intercepting communications, that an IS affiliate in the Sinai peninsula had planted an explosive device on the plane. While America stress that forensic evidence, including the flight recorders, was still being analysed, Egypt has dismissed claims that militants linked to the IS brought down the aircraft.

IS (or Islamic State) militants in Iraq

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)