SHARM SHEIKH: Moscow acknowledged for the first time on Monday a terrorist attack could have caused the Oct 31 Russian plane crash in Egypt, as thousands more tourists were evacuated from the country.

“The possibility of an act of terror is of course there as the reason for what happened,” Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev admitted in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta state newspaper.

Britain and the United States, as well as international investigators, suspect a bomb exploded on board the Metrojet A-321 plane, but Egyptian officials insist there is no evidence yet of an attack on the aircraft which jihadists claim to have downed.

Russia had also refrained from blaming the crash, which killed all 224 people on board, on terrorists, although President Vladimir Putin suspended on Friday all flights to Egypt.

Israel, which has strong intelligence links to the neighbouring Sinai where the Airbus came down while en route from Egypt’s resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, also sided with the attack theory.

“There is a strong probability that this is an attack,” Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli reporters on Monday.

“From what we know and what we understand, I would be surprised if it turns out that it was not an attack.” And the head of Airbus said no technical fault has yet been detected for the crash of the A-321.

“I can say that so far, what we got from the investigation didn’t trigger any action, technical action on our side, regarding the A-321 fleet,” said Fabrice Bregier, the European manufacturer’s chief executive officer.

“But we need to wait for the conclusion of the investigations,” Bregier said at the Dubai Airshow.

Tourist exodus

Amid the tourist exodus from Egypt, a senior operative of the Islamic State jihadist group, Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli, was shot dead in an exchange of fire in Cairo after police tried to arrest him, the interior ministry said.

The IS group’s branch in the Sinai claimed responsibility after the Russian plane crash.

Tens of thousands of foreign tourists, including some 80,000 Russians and 20,000 Britons, were stranded in the resort after flights were cancelled over security fears.

Moscow said on Monday that about 25,000 Russian tourists had so far returned, on more than 100 flights, while Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said some 5,000 Britons had returned home.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2015