US satellite records thermal flash before crash of Russian plane in Egypt

A US infrared satellite has recorded a thermal flash on the Sinai Peninsula several seconds prior to the crash of the Russian plane in Egypt. This was reported by a top-ranking official from the Pentagon. In his turn, the Director of the US National Intelligence has noted that they still have no evidence of a terror act against the Airbus A321.

The thermal flash recorded by the US satellite is evidence of an explosion on board of the Airbus A321. However, only after all the necessary examinations are carried out, experts will be able to report with a degree of certainty whether it has been an explosion at the plane's fuel tank or engine because of failure or an explosion of a bomb, the "NBC News" TV Channel reports with reference to a top-ranking official at the Pentagon.

According to the official, the version of a missile shooting down the plane "is no longer being discussed."

In turn, on November 2, James Clapper, Director of the US National Intelligence, stated that till that time, there was no any direct evidence that the tragedy had been resulted from a terror act. According to James Clapper, it is unlikely that the "Islamic State" (IS) is able to commit such an attack, the Radio Liberty reports.

It should be noted that on November 1, Viktor Sorochenko, Executive Director of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), reported that the plane, which crashed in Egypt, was destroyed in the air and that it was too early to draw conclusions on the causes of the tragedy. In their turn, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have pointed out that they cannot exclude the version of involvement of militants from Northern Caucasus in the crash of the Airbus A321.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.