UPDATE: Russian officials have now claimed the video is a fake. More details here.
Footage has emerged online, purporting to be evidence Islamic State shot down an airliner that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday.
The grainy clip shows an unidentifiable plane flying at height before exploding and plummeting downwards.
تنظيم #الدولة_الإسلامية ينشر مقطع فيديو يقول إنه ﻹسقاط #الطائرة_الروسية في #سيناء pic.twitter.com/wxE4KRanht
— غريب (@iq2015_bgd) October 31, 2015The footage can not be verified and Egyptian officials have already said the crash was due to a technical fault, dismissing the claims.
On Saturday IS released a statement that said: "Soldiers of the Caliphate were able to bring down a Russian plane above Sinai Province with at least 220 Russian crusaders aboard.
"They were all killed, praise be to God. O Russians, you and your allies take note that you are not safe in Muslims lands or their skies.
"The killing of dozens daily in Syria with bombs from your planes will bring woe to you. Just as you are killing others, you too will be killed, God willing."
Although they didn't say how they would have downed the plane, experts say the man-portable MANPADs the group could have would not be able to shoot a plane down at that height.
MANPADS wouldn't be able to get close to a jet at 30,000+ feet, their flight ceiling is closer to 10,000 feet https://t.co/e3cJOREP0E
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) October 31, 2015Two experts said it was possible IS planted a bomb on the plane but both remained sceptical and said it could prove a false claim, which IS has made before.
PT: (3) is least likely (#Egypt not known to have lost AD/SAM systems). Option (2) is feasible, but #ISIS has history of (1) - Bardo Museum.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) October 31, 2015#ISIS's claim of responsibility (if true) points to 2 possibility: Bomb inside plane, or the plane was shot down as it was trying to land
— Michael Horowitz (@michaelh992) October 31, 2015#ISIS statement says it made the plane crash, does not specify how, which leaves a lot of space to argue this is BS, or argue regarding mo
— Michael Horowitz (@michaelh992) October 31, 2015The The Airbus A-321 was bound for St Petersburg crashed shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
It was carrying 221 Russians and three Ukrainians, mainly tourists returning from their holidays.
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There were 17 children on board.
Flight 7K9268 vanished from radars just 23 minutes after take-off.
Although the so-called Islamic State terror group tried to claim responsibility for the crash, many were sceptical, with one expert calling it "almost certainly nonsense".
The aircraft belonged to Russian airline Kogalymavia, also known as Metrojet, and was carrying mainly Russian tourists at the time.
According to FlightRadar24, the plane was descending steeply in its final minutes.
Flight #7K9268 was descending with about 6000 feet per minute just before signal was lost
https://t.co/RlcJTpDHwI pic.twitter.com/T4Wq78bhyi
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 31, 2015An Egyptian official said the pilot had reported a technical problem and was trying to land at the nearest airport.
The wife of the co-pilot claims her husband had complained about the state of the plane prior to the flight.
She said: "He complained before the flight that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired,"
