ISIS: We Brought Down Russian Jetliner

Islamic State militants are claiming responsibility for the downing of a Russian aircraft saying the attack was “in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land.” The Russian jetliner was carrying over 220 people, mostly tourists, including 17 children.

The unverified statement, written in Arabic, says the flight crash was not a technical error, as reported by security sources. The translated statement read: “The fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders.” Russian officials are not ruling out an attack, however say it is too early to conclude anything.

Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said on Saturday that it didn’t yet see any reason to blame the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt on a technical failure, an error by the crew or external actions, RIA news agency reported. “Until there is reliable evidence about the circumstances of what happened, there is no sense in putting forward and discussing any versions,” RIA quoted Rosaviatsia as saying in a statement. h/t yahoo

Last month Vladimir Putin launched a bombing campaign against the terror group, which controls vast swathes of Syria and has forced thousands of people to flee the country. Moscow’s efforts to fight ISIS have been so successful that a million Syrians have elected to return to their homeland.