| CNN | - |
(CNN)
The United States appears to be increasingly confident that a terrorist
bomb brought down the Russian passenger jet that broke apart over
Egypt.
U.S. officials express growing confidence bomb downed Russian plane
Story highlights
- Some intelligence used to assess what happened to jet came from Israel, say sources
- Chatter between ISIS operatives is helping advance belief it was a bombing, officials say
- A memorial service was held for victims of Metrojet Flight 9268 in St. Petersburg Sunday
(CNN)The
United States appears to be increasingly confident that a terrorist
bomb brought down the Russian passenger jet that broke apart over Egypt.
The growing belief was
indicated by several senior U.S. officials in the intelligence, military
and national security community who spoke to CNN.
One official said it was "99.9% certain," another said it was "likely."
The remarks are stronger than those made by President Barack Obama Thursday
when he said there was "a possibility" a bomb was on Metrojet Flight
9268, which disintegrated over the Sinai Peninsula October 31, killing
all 224 people aboard.
The growing
confidence in the bomb hypothesis comes as Russian authorities continue
to fly home the remains of victims for identification.
A
fourth Russian government plane carrying victims' remains flew Sunday
from Cairo to St. Petersburg, where a memorial service was held at the
city's St. Isaac's Cathedral. The cathedral's bell was rung 224 times,
in memory of each victim.
So far, the remains of 58 victims have been identified through DNA testing, Russian state broadcaster Russia 24 reported.
Sources: Israel provided intercepts
At
least some of the intelligence intercepts being used to assess what
happened to the jetliner came from Israeli intelligence, according to a
U.S. official briefed on the intelligence, and a diplomatic source.
The
communications were captured by Israeli intelligence focused on the
Sinai, and passed along to the United States and Britain, the sources
said.
Israeli officials would not comment on the claims.
Egyptian
officials, who are in charge of the main crash investigation, have
taken a more cautious line on the bomb theory, with Ayman al-Muqaddam,
the head of the investigation, telling reporters Saturday that "all the
scenarios" remained on the table.
"We don't know what happened exactly," he said.
Muqaddam
said Egypt had not been provided any information or evidence tied to
reports suggesting that a bomb took down the flight, and urged the
sources of the reports to pass along related evidence to Egyptian
investigators.
But if some of the intelligence is Israeli in origin, it could be an impediment to intelligence sharing over the crash.
ISIS chatter analyzed
The
belief that a bomb was most likely to blame centers to a large extent
on British and U.S. intercepts of communications after the crash from
the Islamic militant group ISIS' affiliate in Sinai to ISIS operatives
in Syria, according to officials.
24 photos: Russian plane crashes in Egypt
The
Sinai affiliate has publicly claimed responsibility for downing the
Russian jet, which was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh
to St. Petersburg, but so far hasn't explained how it was done. That's
prompted questions about the claim among some observers, considering
ISIS' tendency to often publicize its acts for propaganda value.
The
ISIS messages monitored by British and American intelligence agencies
are separate from the group's public claims, a U.S. official has said.
The
two Western countries have been analyzing the specific language in the
chatter to determine to what extent the operatives were talking about
the type of bomb and detonator used, and whether that language was a
true representation of what happened, one official told CNN.
Several
officials said it's the specificity of the chatter that has directly
contributed to the U.S. and British view that a bomb was most likely
used.
Talks over possible FBI role in investigation
But
officials in Washington and London don't have all the pieces of the
puzzle at their disposal. Neither country is directly involved in the
Egyptian investigation into the crash or has physical evidence from it
to examine.
Will Putin go after terrorists in Egypt? 01:42
Talks
between the United States, Egypt and Russia could result in the FBI
providing some experts, particularly bomb technicians, to assist in the
investigation, according to a U.S. official.
The
investigation does include experts from Egypt, Russia, France, Germany
and Ireland -- countries that are connected in various ways to the
aircraft that crashed, an Airbus A321-200.
Noise heard at end of cockpit recording
The
TV station France 2 reported Friday that European investigators who
analyzed the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from Flight
9268 are saying the crash is not an accident.
Report: Black boxes indicate no accident 01:42
The
investigators said the cockpit voice recorder indicates an explosion,
and the flight data recorder shows the blast was not accidental,
according to France 2, a CNN affiliate.
Muqaddam, however, was more circumspect in his comments Saturday on the contents of the flight recorders.
He
confirmed a noise was heard in the final second of the cockpit
recording as the aircraft was on autopilot and ascending. But he offered
no description of the sound, saying a specialized analysis would be
carried out to identify it.
The crash
might have been caused by a lithium battery or a mechanical issue,
Muqaddam said, noting that the investigation was being hampered by bad
weather.
Efforts to repatriate British, Russian tourists
Amid
concerns over what happened to Flight 9268, Russia and Britain have
suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and have been working to bring
citizens home from the resort, while other countries have issued travel
warnings.
Passengers flying back to
Britain or Russia are traveling without their checked luggage, which is
being transferred to cargo planes immediately on check-in -- a
reflection of fears that the Russian plane was brought down by a bomb
placed in the luggage hold.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office says there is "a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device."
Russia,
which initially played down suggestions that the crash was caused by
terrorists, is using its own cargo planes, while the UK is using Egypt
Air cargo planes, according to Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry. Three
cargo jets filled with luggage departed Sharm el-Sheikh Saturday, with a
similar number anticipated Sunday, the ministry said.
Russia
has flown 11,000 tourists home from Egypt in the past day, Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Sunday, according to
Russian state media, with 55 more flights scheduled later in the day.
The
UK's Department for Transport said that 1,945 passengers returned to
Britain on nine flights Saturday, with eight more flights scheduled to
return Sunday.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond tweeted that he expected about 5,000 UK nationals to return Sunday.
A backlog of about 4,000
British vacationers who had been due to travel home Wednesday and
Thursday remain stranded at the resort, according to the Association of
British Travel Agents.
Report: Egypt plane crash likely not an accident 03:00
U.S. 'interim' steps
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told CNN
that officials were taking "precautionary interim steps" to increase
security on international flights into the United States during the
investigation of the Egypt air disaster.
"ISIL
is out there now active in a lot of different areas and, while this
investigation is pending and because we have this group claiming
responsibility, we believe it's significant to do these things on an
interim basis," he said, using an alternative name for ISIS.
Johnson said authorities are evaluating whether additional measures were necessary.
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