Terror suspected in Aeroflot crash which killed all 88 people aboard

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report from Moscow that three Jewish families, two Habad students and a Russian general were among the 88 passengers and crew killed in the Aeroflot Boeing 737 crash at Perm, Siberia, Saturday, Sept. 13. The plane was in flight from Moscow.

Russian authorities report the plane’s sudden disappearance off the radar at the moment cockpit communications shut off indicate the craft may have exploded in mid-air. They suspect terrorism as the cause of the crash because -

1. At least five passengers bought tickets but did not turn up for the flight. Security officials are trying to locate their addresses and sifting through the wreckage spread over a large area for possible unaccompanied luggage.

2. One of the passengers has been identified as Gen. Gennadiy Troshev, who was esteemed as a Russian hero for quelling the Chechen rebellion and believed to be targeted for death.

3. Our sources name one of the Jewish – or possibly Israeli – families aboard the doomed flight. They have been named as Ephraim Nakhumov, 35, his wife Golda, 24, and their two children, Ilya, aged 7, and Eva, aged four. Their place of residence is sought.