IS militants claim responsibility for plane crash in Egypt killing 224 people

Islamic State militants claim they downed a Russian jet killing 224 people on board.

The wreckage was found in an area where Egyptian forces are fighting IS insurgents.

The Metrojet service was en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in Russia when it came down over the Sinai desert.

However security sources in Egypt think a technical fault is probably to blame with reports the pilot wanted to make an emergency landing before losing contact.

Three military experts said IS in Sinai does not have surface-to-air missiles capable of hitting a plane at high altitude.

However, they could not exclude the possibility of a bomb on board or a surface-to-air missile strike if the plane descended for an emergency landing.

Sherif Ismail, the Egyptian prime minister, has said they have already recovered the black box.

“There is an operations team from the civil aviation ministry going now to the site of the location of the accident to start an investigation into it. Of course there has been coordination and communication with the Russian side.”