MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier this month, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that the increase in its anti-terrorism intelligence personnel was partly due to the Russian A321 plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula.
On October 31, an Airbus A321 crashed in the Sinai Peninsula en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. All 224 people on board were killed in the deadliest civil aviation disaster in Russian history.
"New funding will be invested in the security and intelligence agencies to provide for an additional 1,900 officers — an increase of 15% — at MI5, MI6 and GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters] to respond to the increasing international terrorist threat, more cyber-attacks and other global risks," the statement read.
There are currently around 12,700 officers working in the UK intelligence agencies at the moment.
"Our intelligence agencies work round the clock behind the scenes and as the threat has grown so they too have risen to the challenge. Much of what they do cannot be seen by us or talked about but their courageous and determined efforts allow us to go about our daily life. This is a generational struggle that demands we provide more manpower to combat those who would destroy us and our values," UK Prime Minister David Cameron said, as quoted by the statement.
UK and US officials said last week there was a possibility that the crashed Russian airliner could have been brought down by a bomb.
