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A news agency linked to Isil claimed the jihadist group was responsible for the attacks.

The agency, Amaq, cited an Isil source and said militants had targeted "gatherings of Alawites", a reference to the heterodox Shia sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Russia - a key backer of Mr Assad - has a naval base in Tartous and an airbase near Jableh, from where it has conducted air strikes on Isil targets across Syria.

Blast

The state news agency, Sana, cited a police source as saying that 45 people were killed and many others, most of them women and children, were injured in Jableh.

It reported that two bombs exploded at the main entrance of the town's bus station.

Near-simultaneous car and suicide bombings hit the main bus station in Tartous.

Jableh's bus station was also targeted, along with the town's hospital.

A suicide bomber also blew himself up at the entrance of the emergency department at Jableh National Hospital, Sana added.

The fourth blast reportedly occurred near the offices of Jableh's electricity directorate, on the outskirts of the Amara residential district.

In Tartous, more than 33 people were killed and 47 injured, Sana said. A car bomb was detonated at the main gate to the city's bus station, while a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside the facility, it added.

Another bomber blew himself up in a residential area in the west of the city, according to Sana.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group which relies on a network of sources on the ground, reported that 73 people were killed in Jableh and another 48 in Tartous.

It said the two bombings at the bus station in Jableh were suicide attacks.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said terrorist groups were resorting to bomb attacks against civilians because they were unable to fight the Syrian army.

"We will not be deterred," he told al-Ikhbariya TV.

"We will use everything we have to fight the terrorists."

Russia said the attacks underlined the fragile situation in Syria.

The Kremlin expressed concern at the blasts and said they underscored the need to continue peace talks between the government and opposition.

"Of course, a rise in tension and terrorist activity cannot but heighten concern.

Fragile

Inquiry

Three investigators from the French air accident investigation bureau, along with a technical adviser from Airbus, have joined the Egyptian inquiry.

In France, the focus is on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

After last November's Paris attacks, some airport staff had their security clearance revoked over fears of links to Islamic extremists.

Egypt's army spokesman said wreckage and passenger belongings had been found 290km from Alexandria.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said a body part, two seats and at least one suitcase had been found.

The items were found slightly to the south of the area where the plane disappeared from radars, Mr Kammenos said.

European Space Agency satellites spotted an oil slick in the area where the flight had vanished but the organisation said there was no guarantee it was from the missing plane.

The search is now focused on finding the plane's flight recorders.

Mr al-Sisi has expressed his "utmost sadness" at the crash. Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military units have been taking part in a search operation near Greece's Karpathos island.

Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before plunging into the sea.

Eric Moutet, a lawyer for some of the airport employees, told the BBC that there had been attempts by Islamists to recruit staff. "That is clear," he said. "There are people who are being radicalised in some of the trade unions, etc. The authorities have their work cut out with this problem."

Last October, an Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet blew up over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, with all 224 people on board killed. Sinai Province, a local affiliate of the Isil jihadist group, said it had smuggled a bomb on board.

Shereef Fathy, the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, has formed an investigation committee into the EgyptAir plane crash. It will be be headed by pilot Ayman al-Moqadem, the head of Egypt's commission of aviation accidents - who was also in charge of the investigation into the October 2015 Russian plane crash.

Meanwhile, representatives from Airbus and officials from France have arrived in Egypt to participate in the investigation, the Spokesman of the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

Yesterday there were emotional scenes at the Abu Bakr El Seddik mosque, a short drive from EgyptAir's Cairo headquarters. Family members, friends and colleagues of the cabin crew on the doomed flight gathered for a service to pray and console each other. Some women wept while others stood stoically in remembrance.

Pasant El-Nbrany, an Egypt­Air flight attendant, knew all seven of the crew, but her memories of Capt Mohammed Shakir were especially vivid. "He was so kind, he's a professional in his work, he was very helpful. All of the crew had brave hearts."

Another flight attendant, Fatima Ali, said the captain was a religious man who would pray on board and tried to make all five daily prayers, as long as they did not get in the way of his duties.

He would use navigation equipment to figure out the direction of Mecca.

Chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, however, said that Mansour is "more than likely" dead.

Mansour formally led the Taliban after the death of the movement's founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was announced last summer.

Mansour, Mullah Omar's deputy, concealed Mullah Omar's death for more than two years, and ran the Taliban in his name until the death was disclosed by the Afghan government.

Speaking live on television as he chaired a cabinet meeting, Abdullah said Mansour's death would have a positive impact on attempts to bring peace to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been waging an insurgency for 15 years.

Mansour was "the main figure preventing the Taliban joining the peace process", Abdullah said. "From the day he took over the Taliban following the death of Mullah Omar, he intensified violence against ordinary citizens, especially in Afghanistan."

Mullah Rauf was an early detractor of Mansour's but decided this year to declare loyalty to him in the interest of unifying the movement.

Earlier, the US Department of Defence said a drone strike had targeted Mansour "in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region".

Afghan officials said the drone strike took place in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, in the Ahmad Wal area.

The Afghan government has long accused the Pakistani authorities of harbouring and supporting the Afghan Taliban.

The drone strike targeted Mansour's vehicle which was carrying Mansour and one other person at the time, a US military source said.

Another Taliban source identified the driver as Muhammad Azam Hasanai, and said the vehicle the two men were travelling in was completely destroyed in the drone strike.

Online Editors