More than 24 hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared
from radar, a shadowy group called the Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade has
claimed responsibility for it, but officials said the claim could be a
hoax.
The group, unheard of before now, sent an email to journalists across
China that read:
“You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as
pay back,” but the message provided no details of what brought the
flight down.
The message was delivered through an anonymous, encrypted Hushmail service that is virtually impossible to trace, they said.
Malaysia’s acting transport minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin
Hussein, told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday
he doubted the claim’s legitimacy.
“There is no sound or credible grounds to justify their claims,” he said, according to Malaysian news reports.
Other officials said the claim could be a hoax aimed at increasing
ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the wake of a recent
knife attack in the southwestern city of Kunming on March 1 that left 29
people dead and injured about 140 others.
Investigators also said Monday that debris spotted from the air that
was originally believed to be from the plane turned out to be a large
cable spool unconnected to the aircraft.
Officials also said testing showed that an oil slick thought to possibly be from the plane had no connection to the aircraft.
