Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that “terrorism” caused a Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula in October that killed 224 people.
“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,” Al Sissi said in a speech.
Al Sissi had previously dismissed as “propaganda” a claim by Daesh that it downed the airliner on October 31.
The terrorist group said it smuggled a bomb on board the plane in the airport of Sharm Al Shaikh, a Sinai resort popular with Russian holidaymakers.
Russia had quickly concluded that a bomb brought down the airliner, and suspended flights to Egypt. Britain also stopped flights to Sharm Al Shaikh.
The attack dealt a major setback to Al Sissi, who had been at pains to revive the country’s tourism industry and impose control over the restive Sinai Peninsula.
Militants there have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since Al Sissi, a former army chief, overthrew Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in 2013.
Egypt has set up a committee to investigate the attack, and previously insisted it be allowed to finish its probe before any conclusions were made.
Egyptian media outlets have dismissed suggestions that a bomb was the cause as part of a Western “conspiracy” aimed at harming the country’s tourism sector.
The A321 airliner, operated by Russia’s Metrojet and bound for Saint Petersburg, broke up mid-air over the Sinai, minutes after take-off.
The wreckage fell several kilometres across North Sinai - the bastion of the Egyptian branch of Daesh.
The group said it bombed the plane in revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria.
On November 17, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian investigators had found evidence of a bomb on board, and vowed to punish the attackers.
“We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them,” he said.
Russian security chief Alexander Bortnikov said the passenger jet was brought down by a bomb with a force equivalent to one kilogramme of TNT.
Egypt has since hired a British firm to review security at airports, including procedures to check passengers and baggage, and security equipment in the airport.
