Pilot after Somalia emergency: Airplane security is “zero”

The country’s Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jama said: “Experts have confirmed the explosion that occurred inside the Daallo Airlines [jet] was not a technical problem but was a bomb that was meant to destroy the plane and kill all passengers onboard”.

One passenger died and two were injured in the explosion on the plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu airport on Tuesday.

Though preliminary tests showed the bomb contained a military grade of the explosive TNT, the source said, it failed to bring down Daallo Airlines Flight 3159.

After initially saying there was no sign of foul play, Somali officials said Saturday that a suicide bomber is suspected to have set off the explosive inside the plane.

In another incident, three people were killed in a vehicle bomb targeting an airport official in Mogadishu on Friday, police said, although it was not immediately clear if there was a link with the plane attack. Notably, Al Shabab has until now not claimed responsibility for the incident nor has any other known terror group associated with a presence in Somalia.

Vlatko Vodopivec, the pilot who had landed a jetliner in… Nevertheless the pilot managed to turn back and land the plane safely at Mogadishu.

Dubai-based Daallo Airlines has since temporarily suspended its operations in Mogadishu, and the Somali government has vowed to tighten security at the airport.

According to Vodopivec, the blast happened when the plane was still asending at around 11,000 feet.

“They requested we carry the passengers on their behalf to Djibouti where they would continue their journey on a Turkish Airlines flight”, Olad added.

“In fact, such attacks against innocents are typical work of al-Shabaab”, he said, referring to the Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaeda.

Somali intelligence officials investigating a bomb blast on a commercial jet released surveillance footage Sunday appearing to show a passenger being given a laptop in which the bomb was concealed. He was sucked out of the airliner through the hole from the blast Tuesday, reports CNN.

“They were not our passengers”. Daallo typically operates around 15 flights a week to Mogadishu from Somali and nearby global destinations.

Analysts said the bomber may have smuggled the bomb on board in his wheelchair before moving to a different seat once on board, a Western diplomat briefed on the investigation told the Wall Street Journal.