'Russian plane crash may have been caused by a bomb' -US and British officials

British and U.S. officials said Wednesday they have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by a bomb, and Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula as a precaution.

Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group’s Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.

The official and others said there had been no formal judgment rendered by the CIA or other intelligence agencies, and that forensic evidence from the blast site, including the airplane’s black box, which was damaged in the crash, was still being analyzed.

“The cockpit voice recorder has suffered serious mechanical damage,” Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee told the state news agency TASS.

“Now in Egypt, the preparatory work with participation of experts of the IAC and France’s BEA [the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for civil aviation safety] is being done to copy the recorded information, taking all possible precautionary measures.”