British and US spies have intercepted “chatter” suggesting that a bomb, possibly hidden in luggage in the hold, downed the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt, officials say.
The Airbus A321M, operated by Metrojet, a Russian airline, crashed on Saturday en route to St Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.
Western intelligence sources said some of the assessment about the bomb came from intercepted communications both from suspected militants and from one or more governments involved in the investigation.
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The intelligence sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the evidence was not categorical and that there is still no hard forensic or scientific evidence to support the bomb theory.
“We still cannot be categorical but there is a distinct and credible possibility that there was a bomb,” one source said.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the bomb may have been hidden in luggage in the hold of the Russian plane. They refused to give any further information.
A US official said the “chatter” intercepted about the bomb includes conflicting details about whether the bomb was placed on the plane.
The Times newspaper said the information came to light after a joint US-British intelligence operation “used satellites to uncover electronic communications” between Islamic State group militants in Syria and Egypt, without giving a source for the information.
“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 said.
Meanwhile, a source close to the investigation said an analysis of black boxes from the plane “strongly favoured” the theory a bomb exploded onboard the aircraft.
The flight data and voice recorders showed “everything was normal” until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff, pointing to “a very sudden explosive decompression”, the source said.
Russia suspended all flights to Egypt as a result of the reports leaving more than 45,000 Russians stranded.
Tourism officials have predicted it could take up to a month to bring everyone home.
After British prime minister David Cameron was shown intelligence indicating it was likely the plane was brought down by a bomb he halted flights to and from Sharm al-Sheikh but reinstated some flights on Friday.
Britain said there was a “credible threat” but refused to comment further on the intelligence involved, citing long-standing rules about disclosing operational details about live investigations.
Russia was initially critical of Britain’s assessment to suspend all flights however president Vladimir Putin ordered the halt to flights after Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, recommended Russia suspend all passenger flights to Egypt until it knew exactly what caused the crash.
He also ordered officials to draft a mechanism for evacuating Russian citizens from the country.
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