U.S. official says satellite shows heat flash when Russian Metrojet plane crashed in Sinai

A senior U.S. defense official says an American infrared satellite detected a heat flash at the same time and in the same area over Egypt's Sinai peninsula where a Russian plane crashed Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

The unidentified official told NBC News that U.S. intelligence analysts believe it could have been an explosion on the aircraft, either a fuel tank or bomb. A local Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for shooting down the Metrojet Airbus A321, but the official said the infrared satellite would have been able to track the heat trail of a surface-to-air missile. "The speculation that this plane was brought down by a missile is off the table," the official told NBC News.

Other officials also said ISIS does not have the right weapons to carry out such an attack, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Monday during a conference that there was not any "direct evidence of terrorist involvement" in the crash.

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