News

Homeland chairman: ‘All indicators’ point to ISIS bomb on plane

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday that “all indicators” point to a bomb planted by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) bringing down the Russian airliner that crashed last weekend in Egypt. 

{mosads}“All indicators are pointing to the fact that this was ISIS putting a bomb on an airplane,” McCaul said on “Fox News Sunday.” 

He cited evidence from the black box indicating an explosion on the aircraft, satellite data detecting a sudden burst of heat, and intelligence reports. 

He said he had a “high degree of confidence” that the cause of the crash was an ISIS bomb. 

McCaul called the move a “new chapter” for ISIS and raised the possibility that the group could carry out a similar attack on a plane headed for the United States. 

It “concerns me greatly, not just for Russian airlines, Chris, but quite frankly American-bound flights into the United States,” he told host Chris Wallace. 

Security is being ramped up at foreign airports where flights head to the U.S., including watching for insider threats from employees, which McCaul said is “likely” how the bomb got on the plane that crashed in Egypt. 

McCaul blamed President Obama’s foreign policy for the terror group’s rise. 

“When you project weakness throughout the world and have a failed foreign policy, this is what you get,” he said.