Somali official: Bomb blew hole in passenger jet

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.

Meanwhile the Somalian government said that a bomb caused a deadly explosion that ripped a hole in the fuselage of a passenger plane shortly after it took off from Somalia’s main airport on Tuesday.

The pilot of the Airbus A321, which was carrying 74 people, managed to make a safe emergency landing after the bomb went off only minutes after take-off from Mogadishu. There has been no comment from the group.

The security forces have made several arrests in connection with the attack, Transport and Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jama told reporters in the capital Mogadishu yesterday.

The airline company Daallo Airlines has been in business even when there was no government.

Al-Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for the incident.

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.

Residents said the militant Islamist group raised its flags inside the town, which is situated 100 kilometers (60 miles)southwest of Mogadishu, and started to preach to residents using loudspeakers.

According to its website, initial news stories reported that at least one person was killed in the explosion, and two more were seriously injured. “It would have been much worse if we were higher”, he added.

As said by the police officer at Mogadishu airport that the dead body of the passenger had been transported to Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab have been responsible for a series of attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries. Daallo typically operates around 15 flights a week to Mogadishu from Somali and nearby worldwide destinations.

A senior Somali security official told VOA that the FBI is helping Somalia with the investigation.