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.
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.
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.