A top American intelligence official has said that “no direct
evidence” has yet emerged pointing to terrorism being involved in
Saturday’s crash of a Russian Metrojet airliner in Egypt’s Sinai desert that killed all 224 people on board.
But adding to the continuing cloud of mystery surrounding the incident, James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, said a terrorist attack could still not be ruled out.
Clapper’s comments came on a day of contradictory statements as claims by the airline’s operator that a technical fault could not be blamed were slapped down as premature by a senior Russian aviation official.
Russian officials have said the plane, carrying holidaymakers from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, probably broke up in midair but said it was too early to say what caused it to crash and – despite purported leaks to the contrary – investigators in Egypt had not begun sifting through the two flight recorders’ data.
But adding to the continuing cloud of mystery surrounding the incident, James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, said a terrorist attack could still not be ruled out.
Clapper’s comments came on a day of contradictory statements as claims by the airline’s operator that a technical fault could not be blamed were slapped down as premature by a senior Russian aviation official.
Russian officials have said the plane, carrying holidaymakers from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, probably broke up in midair but said it was too early to say what caused it to crash and – despite purported leaks to the contrary – investigators in Egypt had not begun sifting through the two flight recorders’ data.
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