Egypt says the West has failed to give the country sufficient assistance in its fight against terrorism, adding that Western governments have also refrained from sharing relevant intelligence with Cairo about the recent crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday that European countries “did not give us the cooperation we are hoping for.”

He said the countries that are now facing the danger had not dealt seriously with Cairo’s past calls for help and coordination on terrorism issues.

The comments came after an Airbus A321, run by Russia’s Kogalymavia airline, dropped off radar screens on October 31, nearly half an hour after takeoff from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Russian passenger plane crashed in the restive Sinai Peninsula, killing all the 224 people on board. 

Sources in France close to the crash investigation said the analysis of data recovered from black box pointed to a bomb blast on the aircraft.

An investigator told French TV station France 2 that the sound of an explosion could be heard on the black boxes, stressing that the blast was not consistent with an engine failure.

Following the incident, Russia has halted all of its flights to Egypt while the UK has also stopped British flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. Russian and British tourists are to be brought home from Egypt.

The US and the UK, meanwhile, have both said intelligence reports indicate that a bomb on board the flight has caused it to go down, with Shoukry complaining that foreign intelligence on the cause of the crash has not been shared with his country.

"We expected that any technical information should have been shared with us, at a technical level, before publicizing it in the media," the Egyptian foreign minister said.

An investigation into the crash led by the African country is yet to establish any firm theory about its cause, Shoukry said, noting, "We have not dismissed any possibility but there is no hypothesis yet, before the investigations are over and a full report is ready.”

Egypt is also investigating the Sharm el-Sheikh airport staff and ground crew who worked on the Russian flight, according to Egyptian airport and security officials. Some employees have been placed under surveillance.

Tourism accounts for a huge amount of Egypt’s revenues while the sector has not fully recovered from years of political unrest in the country. Russian tourists made up around a third of all holidaymakers  who visited Egypt in 2014.

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has released a video claiming responsibility for downing the Russian Metrojet flight.

The militants from Velayat Sinai (Sinai Province), previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, had earlier circulated a statement on social media claiming responsibility for the plane crash, saying the group brought down the aircraft in revenge for Russian airstrikes against positions of Daesh in Syria. Velayat Sinai pledged allegiance to Daesh in November 2014.