World Bulletin / News Desk

The Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt was brought down by a homemade bomb placed on board in a "terrorist" act, the head of Russia's FSB security service told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

"According to our experts, a homemade explosive device equivalent to 1 kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, which explains why the fuselage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act," Alexander Bortnikov said.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin vowed to find and punish the attackers who brought down a plane with 224 people on board in Sinai last month, in remarks released by the Kremlin Tuesday.

"We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them," Putin told FSB security chief Alexander Bortnikov late Monday, calling the attack "one of the bloodiest crimes".