Russian flight bombing

This item appears on page 18 of the January 2016 issue.

A commercial flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to Moscow, Russia, operated by Russian airline Metrojet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31 killing all 224 people on board, mostly Russians.

Investigations indicated that the crash was due to an explosive device that had been placed on the plane before takeoff. Islamist militant group ISIL claimed responsibility, sharing an image of the bomb they reportedly used. Egyptian authorities arrested two employees of the Sharm el-Sheikh airport on suspicion of assisting with the bombing. 

After the bombing, Russia suspended flights to and from Egypt and increased its air strikes against ISIL targets in Syria.