‘All indicators’ suggest ISIS bombed plane, says Homeland chairman

Initial evidence indicates that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) downed a Russian passenger plane, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who is privy to classified information, said Thursday on Fox News that the plane could have broken apart in midair due to a mechanical failure. But he said “the more likely scenario, where all indicators seem to be pointing, is that this was an ISIS attack with an explosive device in the airplane.”

{mosads}Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Select Committee on Intelligence, offered a more cautious assessment.

“Well, I wouldn’t say all signs [point to a terrorist attack]. There are certainly indications that this may have been an explosion, may have been a terrorist bomb on the aircraft, but it remains a possibility that it was a structural failure in the aircraft, and the intelligence community is not yet at the point where it can confirm either hypothesis,” he said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Report” on Thursday.

Schiff added that ISIS has the capability to smuggle explosives onto airplanes, and the U.S. should be ready to take the necessary precautions in the event that the terrorist group downed the plane.

The Airbus A321 broke apart in midair at 33,000 feet on Saturday, scattering debris over a wide area in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and killing every passenger on board.

Officials dismissed the notion that the plane was shot out of the sky, saying it was too high to be reached by anti-air weaponry, but have they remained open to the idea that a bomb was planted on board before takeoff.

ISIS has taken responsibility for the crash.

McCaul said the apparent attack should cause Russian President Vladimir Putin to rethink his strategy of targeting rebel groups, and not ISIS, in the Syrian civil war.

He also said the crash is a sign of further instability in the region and called for increased U.S. involvement in the fight against the terrorist group.

“I think that we need to step up this war on terror against ISIS, because if it’s a Russian airline today, it could be an American airline tomorrow,” McCaul said.