Two employees of Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh airport have been detained for questioning over the crash of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people aboard.
"Seventeen people are being held; two of them are suspected of helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane at Sharm al-Sheikh airport," said a security official, whom declined to be named.
A second security official said on Tuesday CCTV footage showed a baggage handler carrying a suitcase from an airport building to another man, who was loading luggage onto the doomed airliner from beneath the plane on the runway.
An employee at the airport media department, who also preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed two members of the ground crew had been detained for questioning on Monday night.
Egyptian Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Ghaffar has denied the claims, saying there have been no arrests.
"This news is incorrect, it was probably reported because of the strict inspection checks that all airport workers are undergoing," he said.
Russia's FSB security service said on Tuesday it was certain a bomb had brought down the Airbus jet on October 31, joining Britain and the United States in reaching that conclusion.
President Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible, as he intensified air strikes against militants in Syria.
"We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them," Putin said of the plane bombers at a sombre Kremlin meeting broadcast on Tuesday, with a $US50 million ($A70.47 million) bounty confirmed in a global manhunt for the bombers.
Egypt has not yet formally confirmed that a bomb was responsible, saying it wants to await the completion of all investigations.
It was not immediately clear what role the employees said by security sources to have been detained had at Sharm al-Sheikh airport, which is Egypt's third-busiest, handling a vast number of charter and budget flights for tourists seeking sea and sun in the southern Sinai Peninsula.
Separately, other sources at the airport said security forces were searching for two employees suspected of leaving a baggage-scanning machine unattended for a period of time while passengers were boarding the doomed Russian plane.
The sources said investigators had questioned all airport staff involved with handling the Russian jet, its passengers and bags after the crash.
