Turkish radical militants loyal to the Islamic State group may be behind the downing of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt last October, according to a report by leading Russian daily Kommersant's website.
"The Russian Federal Security Service believes that the Turkish radical nationalist organization Grey Wolves, linked to the Islamic State terrorist group and operating in many Arab countries, including Egypt, could have been linked to the explosion of the Russian airliner," the paper said on Monday citing an FSB source.
The Grey Wolves had links with IS, the terror group that claimed responsibility for blowing up Metrojet flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg 20 minutes after it took off on 31 October killing everyone on board, according to the source.
The source provided no evidence to back up the claims, which come at a time of heightened tensions between the two Black Sea neighbours after the Turkish airforce shot down a Russian jet over northern Syria in November, claiming the Russian aircraft had violated its air space.
Last week a pro-Kremlin tabloid claimed the man suspected of planting the bomb, a former baggage hander at Sharm el-Sheikh, had last been seen in Turkey.
The bombing was Russia’s worst ever aviation disaster and its worst terror attack since the 2004 Belsan school siege. Russia and other Western countries halted flights to the city following the catastrophe, adding to the woes of Egypt’s struggling tourism sector.
The Grey Wolves are a Turkish ultra-nationalist organisation established in the 1960s. Their alleged death squads murdered left-wing and liberal activists and intellectuals, as well as staging the attempt on Pope John Paul II's life in 1981.
.jpg)
.jpg)
