Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/603225
ByLynnBerry The Associated Press MOSCOW A homemade explosive device brought down a Russian passen- ger plane over Egypt last month, the head of Russia's FSB security service said Tuesday, telling President Vladimir Putin it's now clear the crash that killed 224 people was a "terror- ist" act and offering a $50 million reward for informa- tion leading to the arrest of those responsible. The Islamic State group had already claimed re- sponsibility for the attack, and Putin vowed to hunt down those who carried it out. Russian war planes struck Raqqa, the self-de- clared IS capital in Syria, and other targets on Tues- day, the defense minister told Putin at a briefing later in the day. The FSB appealed to the "Russian and international communities for coopera- tion in identifying the ter- rorists." It specified that the reward would be paid in dollars. "According to our ex- perts, a homemade explo- sive device equivalent to 1 kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, which explains why the fu- selage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act," FSB head Al- exander Bortnikov said. He said tests showed the explosives had been pro- duced outside of Russia, but gave no further details. All of the people on board, most of them Rus- sian tourists, were killed when the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31, about 23 minutes after tak- ing off from the Red Sea re- sort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The plane was headed to St. Petersburg, where most of the passengers were from. Eg yptian authori- ties opened an investiga- tion into a possible secu- rity breach or infiltration by militants of the airport staff soon after the crash, security officials said. The investigation has been fo- cused on baggage handlers, their security overseers and also personnel involved in aircraft catering, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said his gov- ernment was informed only on Tuesday of the results of the Russian investigation into the cause of the crash and he shied away from en- dorsing its conclusion that a bomb was to blame. Speak- ing in Sharm el-Sheikh fol- lowing a Cabinet meeting there, Ismail said Egypt would "bear in mind" the Russian conclusion. Aviation Minister Hos- sam Kamal, meanwhile, sought to cast doubt on the Russian declaration, say- ing the technical investi- gation into the crash by ex- perts from Egypt, Russia, France and Ireland had not concluded its work. Confirmationthatabomb was smuggled onto the air- craft would likely have a crushing impact on Egypt's vital tourism industry. Putin said Russia would be relentless in hunting down those responsible for the attack. "There's no statute of limitations for this. We need to know all of their names," Putin said. "We're going to look for them ev- erywhere wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any place on Earth and punish them." The Islamic State group had claimed responsibil- ity in written statements, as well as video and audio messages posted on the In- ternet following the crash. It said the attack was retal- iation for Russia's air cam- paign against IS and other groups in Syria, where Mos- cow wants to preserve the rule of President Bashar Assad. At a briefing in Moscow Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that Russian bombers hit IS positions in Raqqa and other targets. Putin said that Rus- sia's air campaign in Syria "should not only be contin- ued but should be intensi- fied so that the criminals re- alize that retribution is in- evitable." Putin's meeting with Bortnikov and other senior officials was held late Mon- day, shortly after the pres- ident returned from meet- ings with other world lead- ers in Turkey. The leaders from the Group of 20 rich and developing nations had vowed to work together to combat the Islamic State group. IS has warned Putin that it would also target him "at home," but did not offer any details to back its claim. 'TERRORIST ACT' Ru ss ia : Pl an e br ou gh t do wn by homemade explosive device MAXIMGRIGORIEV—RUSSIANMINISTRYFOREMERGENCYSITUATIONS Egyptian military vehicles approach a plane's tail at the wreckage of a passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Hassana, Egypt. By Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam The Associated Press BEIRUT Islamic State mil- itants are stiffening their defenses for a possible as- sault on their de facto cap- ital Raqqa as international airstrikes intensify on the Syrian city in retaliation for the Paris attacks. The fighters are hiding in ci- vilian neighborhoods and preventing anyone from fleeing, activists said. Activists from Raqqa say the northern Syrian city's estimated 350,000 residents are gripped by fear, rattled by powerful Russian and French air- strikes that shake the city daily and worried they would be trapped with no- where to go amid signs of a looming ground invasion by U.S.-allied Kurdish and Arab forces in Syria. For months, those forces have been advancing grad- ually toward Raqqa with backing from American- led airstrikes, captur- ing IS-held towns to the north and east of the city. After IS claimed responsi- bility for Friday's carnage in Paris that killed at least 129 people, there are calls for even stronger action in Syria. Iraqi intelligence offi- cials this week told The Associated Press that the operation was planned in Raqqa, where the at- tackers were trained spe- cifically for this opera- tion with the intention of sending them to France. The attacks came soon af- ter IS claimed the down- ing of a Russian plane in Egypt and deadly suicide bombings in Lebanon and Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday suggested Raqqa would be the new focus. "My sense is that ev- erybody understands that with Lebanon's attacks, with what's happened in Egypt, with Ankara, Tur- key, with the attacks now in Paris, we have to step up our efforts to hit them at the core where they're planning these things," he said after his meeting with French President Francois Hollande Tuesday. But the extremists are digging in to make any potential assault as gru- eling as possible. The city, which they have held since early 2014, lies on the Eu- phrates River at an inter- section of major routes from all directions, most through agricultural ar- eas crisscrossed by canals and tributaries of the river. The closest forces from the U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab coalition called the Demo- cratic Forces of Syria are 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the north in the town of Ein Issa. Activists say the mil- itants have been step- ping up defenses of Raqqa since late October, after the Democratic Forces launched their campaign vowing to retake the city. Shortly afterward, IS banned people leaving the city and activists said it has stepped up enforce- ment of the ban in the past few days, leading to fears the group intends to use ci- vilians as human shields in future fighting. To avoid being hit in their bases, the fight- ers have moved into resi- dential neighborhoods in empty homes abandoned by people who fled Raqqa earlier, said an activist from Raqqa. He spoke on condition he be identified only by the name he uses in his political activism, Khaled, for security rea- sons. 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