Airport Workers Spotted With Laptop Used In Somalia Mid-Air Explosion
Somali intelligence officials say two airport workers handled a laptop that concealed a bomb that later exploded in a passenger plane.
Officials released a video to the public on Sunday, where one airport worker is seen handing the laptop to another employee.
The employees then handed the laptop over to the man who was killed when the laptop explosion blew a hole in the plane’s fuselage, Abdisalam Aato, a spokesman for the Somali Prime Minister, said in a statement.
Both workers have been arrested.
Somali officials identified the suspect as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh. He was sucked out of the airliner through the hole from the blast Tuesday, reports CNN.
According to a source familiar with the probe, investigators suspect Borleh, a Somali national, carried a laptop computer with a bomb concealed onto the plane.
The pilot, a 64-year-old Serb named Vladimir Vodopivec, told a friend he was convinced the blast had been caused by a bomb, as the Serbian Daily Blic reported.
He knew precisely where to sit and how to place the device to maximize damage, the source told CNN.
Given the placement, the explosion likely would have set off a catastrophic secondary explosion in the fuel tank if the aircraft had reached cruising altitude, the source said. According to ABC News, the explosion occurred at 11,000 feet.
“Additional investigations conducted by Somali and international experts have confirmed the explosion that occurred inside the Dallo Airlines [jet] was not a technical problem, but was a bomb that was intended to destroy the plane and kill all passengers onboard,” Somali Transport and Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jama said.
“The security forces have detained people suspected of having involved the bomb that exploded inside that plane.”
Almost immediately after the blast, the A-321 jetliner made an emergency landing and returned to the airport. Two out of the 60 passengers onboard were injured in the incident.
#Somalia: Plane makes emergency landing at #Mogadishu airport; incident being treated as "suspicious": sources. https://t.co/jJrMIjPfML
— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) February 2, 2016
Photos of the damage to Daallo airlines taken after the emergency landing. Two passengers were injured. #Somalia pic.twitter.com/2A5XTyOajm
— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) February 2, 2016
According to Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun, many passengers on the flight were originally scheduled to be on a Turkish Airlines flight, but the flight was canceled “due to operational reasons” and bad weather.
Although preliminary tests showed that the bomb contained a military grade of the explosive TNT, the source said, it failed to bring down Daalo Airlines Flight 3159.
Somalia asked U.S. officials for help with the investigation, and several FBI agents are on the ground assisting in Mogadishu, the spokesman told CNN.
“This was a sophisticated attack… so we reached out to our international partners,” Aato said.
Investigators believe the attack was coordinated by Al-Shabaab, although they are not certain Borleh was a direct member of the group, according to the source. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
According to CNN, Al-Shabaab is an al Qaeda affiliate, though some of its factions have declared loyalty to ISIS. The group has been responsible for some of the deadliest violence in recent years in Somalia and its surrounding nations, including Kenya and Uganda.
Before admitting to the Kenya quarry attack, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the July 2010 suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, that killed more than 70 people, including a U.S. citizen, who had gathered at different locations to watch the broadcast of the World Cup final soccer match.
At least 20 people have been arrested in connection with the airline explosion, the spokesman said.
[AP Photo, File]
