Obama: ‘Possibility’ That Bomb Brought Down Russian Airliner

President Barack Obama said on Thursday that there remains a “possibility” that a bomb was on board doomed Metrojet flight 9268, which came down over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 passengers and crew members.

“I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board, and we’re taking that very seriously,” Obama said in a radio interview. “We’re going to spend a lot of time just making sure our own investigators and own intelligence community find out what’s going on before we make any definitive pronouncements. But it’s certainly possible that there was a bomb on board.”

Obama’s comments come as U.S. intelligence appears to suggest that the plane was brought down by an ISIS bomb. The terrorist group originally took responsibility for the crash, but the Egyptian and Russian governments immediately dismissed that claim.

The airline has attempted to shut down any speculation that there were issues with its pilots or the plane itself, saying the most likely cause of the tragedy was an “external impact.” Many experts have questioned whether ISIS or its affiliates possess the capability or equipment to shoot down a plane that was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet, but Obama kept the speculation alive over whether a bomb was placed on the jet before it departed from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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