24 Nov 2024
Monday 9 November 2015 - 16:47
Story Code : 187992

Identity of ISIL frontman who claims responsibility for A321 crash revealed

British newspaper The Sunday Times has revealed who allegedly planted a bomb aboard the Russian plane which crashed in Egypt on October 31, naming him as Abu Osama al-Masri, an Egyptian cleric and the frontman of an ISIL-offshoot group.



"The man known asMasri claimed responsibility forthe Russian plane crash inan audio statement last Wednesday the same day that David Cameron announced the suspension ofBritish holiday flights toSharm el-Sheikh," the newspaper says.



Plane bombing mastermind unmasked asEgyptian cleric https://t.co/eLbWsutAbq pic.twitter.com/kAna2woLYe



The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) 8 ?????? 2015

The statement, entitled "We Downed It, So Die inYour Rage", was issued on4 November, challenging Egyptian authorities to "prove we did not." It further said it would reveal its modus operandi indue course.


#IS in #Sinai announces a new audio message onthe #Russia|n plane crash: "We downed it, so die inyour rage" pic.twitter.com/tKV1Yx2Z3h



Pieter Nanninga (@pieternanninga) 4 ?????? 2015

The outlet says that Whitehall officials confirmed this weekend that Masri is a "person ofinterest" inthe crash and that Britain would help Egypt or Russia ina "kill or capture" mission.

Abu Osama al-Masri is an Egyptian cleric and frontman ofthe Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province) group, now considered a branch ofISIL afterbrokering a pact withthe terrorist organization last year inSyria.


Some experts, however, have questioned the militant group's claim ofresponsibility, pointing outthat it has failed toprovide any proof.
Intelligence officials believe that Masri's group used an airport insider tosmuggle a bomb intothe luggage hold ofthe Metrojet aircraft last Saturday. It is feared the suspect is still atlarge, the report said.

Sinai Province's leader is a former clothes importer known byhis alias Abu Osama al-Masri. The 42-year-old is a former scholar ofthe al-Azhar University inCairo, a 1,000-year-old Sunni Muslim institution that gave an honorary doctorate tothe Prince ofWales in2008.

Meanwhile, British officials are investigating if any Britons allied toISIL were involved afterclaims that the security services had intercepted "chatter" betweenextremists withLondon and Birmingham accents inthe aftermath ofthe explosion.

By Sputnik News
https://theiranproject.com/vdcf1edy0w6dc1a.r7iw.html
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