CAIRO —
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said on Wednesday that the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai last year was downed by terrorists seeking to damage Egypt's tourism industry and relations with Moscow.
"Has terrorism ended, no it has not but it will if we unite. Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did he mean? He meant to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia," Sissi said in a televised speech.
The comments were the first official Egyptian indication that the plane was deliberately downed. Russia had already said that a bomb was to blame but Egypt had said it had yet to find evidence of foul play.