Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

ISIS bombed Russian plane with homemade explosive device weighing under 3 pounds

Published Nov 17th, 2015 6:40PM EST
ISIS Bomb Flight Metrojet KGL9268
Image: BBC

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

All the annoying checks you go through before boarding a plane are supposed to increase security and thwart terrorists’ ambitions. But it looks like these safety measures aren’t foolproof because Russia on Tuesday confirmed that ISIS managed to sneak a homemade bomb onto a passenger jet that crashed over Sinai, Egypt late last month.

DON’T MISS: Hackers vs. terrorists: ISIS says Anonymous are ‘idiots’ for declaring war

According to CNN, the Russian government is offering a $50 million reward for information about the people who brought the plane down, killing 224 passengers.

“There’s no statute of limitations for this. We need to know all of their names,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We’re going to look for them everywhere wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any place on Earth and punish them.”

The bomb, estimated to contain 2.2 pounds of explosives, somehow made it aboard the plane in spite of security checks. It’s not clear how that happened. FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said that “traces of foreign explosives” were found onboard the plane.

ISIS’ branch in Egypt claimed responsibility on the day of the crash, Time reports, with British and American experts previously saying they suspected the plane was brought down by a bomb.

So far, the Egyptian government resisted the notion that a bomb was snuck aboard the Metrojet aircraft, insisting the investigation runs its full course.

Regardless of the official conclusions regarding the causes that brought down flight Metrojet KGL9268, it’s safe to say that airport security will be under intense scrutiny.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.