UK investigators looking at what caused a Russian airliner to crash in Egypt believe a bomb was put in the hold prior to take-off, the BBC has learned.

The UK government suspended all flights to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh two days ago.

The move came after it said the incident was likely to be have been caused by terrorism.

It had received intelligence based on intercepted communications between militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

However, both Egypt and Russia have said it is too early to draw conclusions.

The Metrojet Airbus A321 was flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg when it came down in Sinai on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. Most of the victims were Russian.

Britons stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh since then are due to begin returning home, but will only be allowed to bring hand luggage.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says that although British officials have not ruled out the possibility of a technical fault bringing the plane down, they think that is increasingly unlikely.

New intelligence was received on Wednesday and the UK government's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has spent the past few days assessing what caused the plane to come down.

Security service investigators suspect someone with access to the aircraft's baggage compartment inserted an explosive device inside or on top of the luggage just before the plane took off, our correspondent adds.

Sinai-based militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group said they destroyed the plane, but did not say how. IS has called for a war against both Russia and the US over their air strikes in Syria.

Source: BBC