Blood on Sinai sands
On February 21, 1973, Israeli fighters bombed down a Libyan commercial flight for flying over Sinai by mistake. On July 3rd, 1988, a US barge bombed down an Iranian commercial flight in the Gulf. On December 21, 1988, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s agents blew a Pan Am flight over Scotland and Gaddafi paid $2.7 billion in compensation for the victims. On December 22, 1992, Gaddafi’s agents also blew a Libyan flight carrying the same Pan Am flight number and almost on the same date to claim that the blockade and embargo against Libya were behind it, and the debris was instantly removed without even compensating the victims with as much as he paid for the Pan Am passengers.
On March 8th, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines’ flight number MH370 vanished and a search is still on for it after search teams found a piece of its debris near a tropical South Indian ocean island. Search is expected to stop by the beginning of 2016 for lack of resources. Four months later, the Russians bombed down the Malaysia Airlines’ flight number MH17 and investigators concluded their work last month after the Russian rebels were accused of bombing it. Russia used veto in the UN against prosecuting the ‘culprits.’ Criminal investigation in that accident is due to end next year.
Latest reports about the Russian flight that crashed a few days ago over Sinai suggest that a bomb was smuggled into the plane inside a bag. The bag might not necessarily have been smuggled through the airport terminal that is heavily secured with CCTVs and bomb detectors. There are many other more logical possibilities such as throwing it in over the airport fence that runs along a road used by so many vehicles, greeting it through by flight supply vehicles or through a member of the maintenance and refueling teams. Very vicious and professional criminal minds are definitely behind this crime and identifying the real culprits might be very difficult.
With the presence of black boxes and the remains of the victims, a primary report can be made soon about the crash, and the Egyptian authorities must act quickly to fill in the loopholes in its security measures on the airport’s perimeter and on supply, maintenance and refueling teams.
During a European flight leaving an African airport, the pilot noticed that the luggage compartment had been opened. He closed it quickly just before takeoff, and thus returned to the airport to discover that someone had climbed the perimeter fence and placed a bomb inside the luggage compartment.
Finally, the Pan Am flight explosion did not cause halting flights to Frankfurt and London airports through which the bombed bag used in the explosion found its way to the plane before it exploded over Lockerbie! — Translated by Kuwait Times