Passengers on bombed Somalia plane ‘meant for Turkish Airlines’

Security video footage taken at Mogadishu airport showed two men handing what looks like a laptop computer to the suspected bomber after he passed through the security checkpoint.

Newly released surveillance footage shows the suspected terrorist being handed a laptop by two airport workers at Mogadishu airport, one of whom is wearing an orange security jacket. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible”, Somali government spokesperson Abdisalam Aato told the Wall Street Journal today.

Olad also claims that Daallo Airlines is now implementing new security measures to avoid similar future attacks. He was sucked out of the plane through the hole the blast made, the bomb loaded with military grade TNT.

The Somali bomber was booked on a Turkish Airlines flight scheduled for the same day, but it was cancelled and the passengers were referred to Daallo Airlines to travel, Mohamed Yasin told dpa.

Investigators believe the attack was orchestrated by Al-Shabaab, although they are not certain Borleh was a direct member of the group, according to the source.

Correction: This article originally identified the airline in question as Turkish Airlines. If the aircraft had reached cruising altitude, the explosion would have likely set off another in the fuel tank.

It was detonated at the height of about 3 000 metres 15 minutes after take-off from Mogadishu, prompting the pilot to turn back from his route towards Djibouti.

Meanwhile, Somali security officials have confirmed the arrest of aviation officials they believe planted the bomb that was meant to bring down a Daallo Airlines flight last week. “It was a deliberate act of terrorism”.

The Somalia plane bomber may have had some type of link to the airline or airport staff, it has been reported.

ReutersA member of Daallo Airlines ground crew walks down an aisle inside their airline at Aden Abdule International Airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, February 17, 2015.

“When we went past 10,000 feet, we switched off the fasten belts sign and the cabin crew started serving passengers”, Vodopivec said in an interview in Belgrade.

While the Shebab has been East Africa’s longtime Al-Qaeda-affiliate, some factions previous year reportedly split to pledge their allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Since starvation devastated parts of the Horn of Africa nation in 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has forged close ties with Mogadishu and launched a raft of construction and development projects.