Plane bombing mastermind unmasked as Egyptian cleric

REUTERS

British intelligence chiefs believe that the plane, which crashed last weekend over Egypt’s Sinai killing 224 people, was brought down by a bomb planted by an offshoot of ISIS in the Sinai peninsula, The Sunday Times reports.

The group’s frontman, Abu Osama al-Masri, an Egyptian cleric, brokered a pact with ISIS last year in Syria.

Read alsoBlack box data reveals A321 "brought down over Egypt by explosion"Whitehall officials confirmed this weekend that Masri is a “person of interest” and that Britain would help Egypt or Russia in a “kill or capture” mission. Such a move could involve the deployment of the SAS to Egypt.

The man known as Masri claimed responsibility for the Russian plane crash in an audio statement last week.