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A look at bombings and attempted bombings of planes

Russian tourists check in as they prepare to depart for St

The Jakarta Post
London
Fri, November 6, 2015

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A look at bombings and attempted bombings of planes Russian tourists check in as they prepare to depart for St. Petersburg, Russia from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, south Sinai, Egypt, Thursday. (AP/Thomas Hartwell) (AP/Thomas Hartwell)

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span class="inline inline-center">Russian tourists check in as they prepare to depart for St. Petersburg, Russia from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, south Sinai, Egypt, Thursday. (AP/Thomas Hartwell)

The U.S. and Britain say a bomb likely brought down a Russian airliner that crashed Saturday in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, killing 224 people, though Egypt and Russia have dismissed that suggestion. Here's a look at some bombings and attempted bombings of planes around the world:

'€” Dec. 25, 2009: Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a passenger on Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253 out of Amsterdam, with 281 passengers and a crew of 11 aboard, tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear. He succeeded only in burning himself. He was subdued by other passengers and the crew until the plane could land in Detroit. Al-Qaida said it was behind the attempted attack. Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life in prison.

'€” Aug. 24, 2004: Two female suicide bombers brought down two Russian airliners that took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, killing 89 people. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, which brought the planes down inside Russia.

'€” Dec. 22, 2001: British citizen Richard Reid tried unsuccessfully to blow American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami out of the sky using elaborately concealed explosives in his shoes. He was overpowered by fellow passengers and the crew, and later claimed to be an agent of al-Qaida. He was sentenced to life in prison.

'€” Sept. 19, 1989: French airline Union des Transports-Aeriens' (UTA) flight 772 was en route from the Republic of Congo to Paris when it was destroyed by a bomb over Niger, in the Sahara Desert. All 170 people on board were killed. Six Libyans were later convicted in absentia.

'€” Dec. 21, 1988: A bomb hidden inside checked baggage exploded as Pan Am Flight 103 flew over the Scottish village of Lockerbie, killing 259 people on board. Eleven people on the ground were also killed. Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the bombing, died in 2012 of cancer. In October 2015, Scottish prosecutors announced there were two new Libyan suspects they wanted to question.

'€” June 23, 1985: A suitcase bomb hidden in the luggage hold of Delhi-bound Air India Flight 182 detonated over Ireland's West Cork coast, killing all 329 people on board. Charges were brought many years later. (kes)

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Associated Press News Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

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