Egypt says no evidence so far of terrorist action in Russian plane crash

The debris from a Russian airliner is seen at its crash site at the Hassana area in Arish city, north Egypt, November 1, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

CAIRO - Egypt said on Monday that a preliminary probe has found no evidence that an illegal or terrorist action was behind the Russian plane crash in Sinai in October that killed all 224 people on board.

"A technical investigative committee has completed a preliminary investigation and has not so far found anything indicating any illegal intervention or terrorist action," the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said in the statement.

Ayman al-Moqaddam, head of the committee, said the investigation will continue until a final conclusion could be made, according to the statement.

The Cairo-led committee consists of Egyptian, Russian, French and German experts and several other airline consultants.

In mid-November, Moscow said a bomb attack brought down the Russian passenger jet and killed all 224 people on board.

The Russian findings came a few days after deadly terror attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people and wounded more than 300.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for both the Paris attacks and the downing of the Russian passenger plane.

The crash led some states, including Britain and Russia, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals from there over the possibility that a bomb was behind it.