Pilot in Somalia emergency says security zero

Daallo Airlines operates out of Djibouti, flying to destinations in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf, Al Jazeera reported.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Security video footage taken at Mogadishu airport shows two men handing what looks like a laptop computer to the suspected suicide bomber after he passed through the security checkpoint, Somalia’s government spokesman said Sunday.

This is the extraordinary CCTV footage of the suspected bomber of a Somali plane at the exact moment when he is being handed a laptop in which the explosives were concealed.

The bomber was sucked out of the plane through the one-metre wide hole when the blast ripped open the pressurised cabin in mid-air, officials said.

So far between 15 and 20 people have been arrested in connection with the attack.

The February 2 incident was initially slow in making it into the global headlines after only one live was lost and the plane returned safely to the ground by the cockpit crew.

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.

Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab has recently been attacking military positions of African Union troops bolstering Somalia’s weak government against the militants’ insurgency.

“That specific passenger (who was behind the blast) boarded the plane on a Turkish Airlines boarding move and was on the record for the Turkish Airlines manifest”, Yassin advised Reuters by phone from Dubai. Many other passengers aboard the flight were also originally checked in with Turkish Airlines, the head of Daallo Airlines told Reuters on Monday. “Turkish Airlines cancelled its flight from Mogadishu that morning because their incoming flight from Djibouti could not come to Mogadishu because of what they said was strong wind”, Olad said.

The Airbus A321 was operated by Somali company Daalo Airlines. “While threats will always be there, this could happen at any other airport”, he said.

He is said to have used a wheelchair to circumvent security measures at the Mogadishu airport, the Journal reported.

Al-Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for the incident.