(JTA) — Investigators looking into the crash of a Russian airplane over the Sinai Peninsula say they are “90 percent sure” that a bomb on board is the cause.
“The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb,” an unnamed Egyptian investigation team member told Reuters on Sunday.
It is the most specific confirmation made so far about the crash of the Metrojet flight bound for Russia. All 224 people aboard were killed in the Oct. 31 crash, including a former program director for Hillel Russia.
Last week, U.S. news outlets including CNN and NBC quoted unnamed American officials as saying that intelligence gathered by the United States suggested that a bomb caused the crash.
The Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for bringing down the passenger flight, saying it was in retaliation for Russian airstrikes on rebels in Syria’s civil war.
Russia began launching airstrikes on Syria in September, saying it was coordinating with Syrian President Bashar Assad to combat terror groups such as the Islamic State.
