Investigators ’90 percent sure’ bomb downed Russian plane

Investigators probing the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt are “90 percent sure” that a noise heard in the final moment of an audio cockpit recording was the sound of a bomb exploding, one of the investigators told Reuters. 

“The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb,” one member of the Egyptian investigation team told the news outlet in a story published late Sunday night.

“We are 90 percent sure it was a bomb.”

{mosads}The comments reflect the growing consensus that appears to be emerging around the notion that Metrojet Flight 9268 was brought down by a bomb, killing all 224 people onboard.

On political talk shows this weekend, members of Congress reaffirmed their conviction that terrorists were the likely culprits.

“All indicators are pointing to the fact that this was ISIS putting a bomb on an airplane,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria 

“There’s a growing body of intelligence and evidence that this was a bomb,” echoed Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee — on ABC’s “This Week.” 

If a bomb brought down the plane, intelligence officials are reported to believe that it was likely due to affiliates of ISIS. The attack would represent a major escalation for the terrorist group, which has so far largely refrained from massive terror attacks abroad.

In response to the possible attack, countries around the globe have enacted travel restrictions and beefed up security.