Islamic State claims photo shows bomb that downed Russian plane
New issue of group's magazine purports to show improvised device and passports of crash victims; says Norwegian, Chinese captives executed.
The photo showed a can of Schweppes Gold soft drink and what appeared to be a detonator and switch on a blue background. It also published a photo of what it said were passports belonging to dead Russians "obtained by the mujahideen".
IS said it had exploited a loophole at Sharm al-Sheikh airport, where the Airbus 321 originated, in order to smuggle a bomb on board.
The group said it had initially planned to bring down a plane belonging to a country participating in the US-led coalition bombing it in Syria and Iraq but changed course after Moscow started its own airstrikes campaign in Syria.
The magazine was published a day after Russian intelligence announced that the plane had been brought down by an explosive device.
Earlier Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed on measures to improve airline security as a first step towards resuming flights between the two countries, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
The terrorist group also said it killed a Norwegian and a Chinese captive after demanding ransom for their release two months ago.
The magazine contained a page that appeared to show the bodies of the two captives.
It bears the caption "executed after being abandoned by kafir nations and organizations." ''Kafir" is the Arabic word for infidel.
There was no immediate reaction in Beijing to the announcement, nor from the state-run Xinhua news agency. Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Rune Bjastad said: "We have no confirmation yet." Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg had told journalists in September her nation would not pay a ransom.
The Norwegian man had been identified as Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, a graduate student in political philosophy from Porsgrunn, south of Oslo. The Chinese man had been identified as Fan Jinghui, 50, a self-described "wanderer" from Beijing who once taught middle school.
The militants did not say when or where the two were captured when announcing their captivity in a previous issue of the magazine, which showed them in yellow jumpsuits. However, the last post on Grimsgaard-Ofstad's Facebook page, dated Jan. 24, said he had arrived in Idlib, Syria, on his way to Hama.
