But now...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/616 ... sion-videoISLAMIC STATE have released a chilling video, which may be proof that the terror group did shoot down the Russian plane causing it to crash and kill all 224 people on board.
The barbaric terrorists last night claimed to have downed the Airbus A-321 jet in revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria - but how they could have carried out the deadly act remains a mystery.
However dramatic footage has now emerged online, which purports to show the final moments of the doomed airliner as it falls through the air, before it appears to explode and engulfs into a ball of smoke and flames.
Egypt’s North Sinai is home to a two-year-old Islamist insurgency and militants who support Islamic State have killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police in recent months.
But officials in Cairo and Moscow were quick to quash any possible link to terrorism in the tragedy, which was one of the deadliest plane crashes in the past decade.
And the co-pilot allegedly complained to his family that the aircraft's condition "left much to be desired" shortly before the doomed flight took off.
The aircraft, which was was flying from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh destined for the Russian city of St Petersburg, was said to have split in half mid-air scattering debris and bodies over a wide area in remote Sinai, Egypt.
Burnt corpses were found 3.1 miles away from the crashed aircraft, and this morning search and rescue teams recovered the body of a three-year-old girl some five miles from the crash scene.
So far, only 163 bodies of 214 Russian passengers and three Ukrainians, have been recovered, which has resulted in search and rescue teams expanding their search perimeter to nine miles.
It comes as officials said the jet, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, did not lodge an SOS call before its quick descent.
Professor Michael Clarke, Director General of the Royal United Services Institute, said the jet may have been destroyed by a bomb on the aircraft.
He said: "This aircraft was 200km north of its take-off zone, that means it was flying at around 31,000 feet. Terrorists, as far as we know, don’t have equipment to take down an aircraft at that height.
"Early reports said it split into two and that suggests a catastrophic failure, not a mechanical failure, but perhaps an explosion on board.
"So I would be much more inclined to think, if we have to guess at this stage, it is much more likely to have been a bomb on board than a missile fired from the ground.
"And there’s no sign of a distress call, so the idea that the aircraft was undergoing an mechanical problem, or an engine problem, or a fire, or something like that, you would expect that there would be some sort of distress call beforehand."
If you watch the video, (which you can see at the link) it begins while the plane is flying normally, not after the explosion, (and there clearly is an explosion) which would rule out the possibility that this is a video taken by someone who just happened to be hanging out in the Sinai when the plane went down and video taped it.
If this video is authenticated as an actual video taken of the Russian plane, then clearly it was brought down as an act of terrorism. Somebody had to know this was going to happen so that they would be prepared to capture it on video.
I don't see any object approaching the plane prior to the explosion, but at the distance from which the video is shot, an anti aircraft missile would be pretty tough to make out unless it just happened to catch the sun light.
However it would appear that an on-board bomb (perhaps detonated remotely so they would know when and where to start filming) would be more likely.
