Egypt’s Sisi, for first time, says Russian plane was brought down by terrorists

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that “terrorism” caused a Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula last October that killed 224 people. Sisi had previously dismissed as “propaganda” a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State group, and Egyptian media outlets have dismissed suggestions that a bomb was the cause, and the crash part of a Western “conspiracy” aimed at harming the country’s tourism sector.

Has terrorism ended? No. … Whoever downed that plane, what did he want? Just to hit tourism? No. To hit relations. To hit relations with Russia.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

The attack was a major setback for Sisi, who had been working to revive the country’s tourism industry and impose control over the unsettled Sinai Peninsula. Russia had quickly concluded that a bomb brought down the airliner, and suspended flights to Egypt. Britain also stopped flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. Egypt has set up a committee to investigate the attack, and had insisted it be allowed to finish its probe before any conclusions were drawn.

Sisi