LONDON: US President Barack Obama raised the possibility Thursday that a bomb brought down a Russian plane that crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, undermining efforts by Cairo and Moscow to downplay the suggestion of an attack.
With concerns over security mounting, a number of European airlines readied to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the plane took off last Saturday.
The Islamic State (IS) militant group has claimed responsibility for the disaster, in which the Saint Petersburg-bound jet crashed minutes after taking off, killing all 224 mainly Russian tourists on board.
"I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously," Obama told a US radio station, while emphasising it was too early to say for sure.
In London, where David Cameron was hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the British premier told reporters it was "more likely than not that it was a terrorist bomb" that caused the crash.
And The Times newspaper reported on Friday that electronic communications intercepted by British and American spies suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.
"The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff," the newspaper reported, without giving a source.
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