Plane bombing mastermind unmasked as Egyptian cleric

The suspected mastermind behind the downing of a Russian passenger jet near Sharm el-Sheikh has been unmasked, according to The Sunday Times.
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.

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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.