The al-Shabaab terrorist group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the bombing of a passenger jet earlier this month in Somalia. Experts say if the plane had been at its intended cruising altitude of 30,000 feet, the explosion could have brought down the aircraft.
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Authorities in the Balcad region, about 19 miles north of Mogadishu, later said they found the body of a man believed to have been sucked out of the plane, Reuters reported.
Al Shabaab fighters left the capital in 2011 and a permanent Somali government was established in 2012, but the government has struggled to end chronic insecurity. But the online claim does appear to be from the terror group, according to global security firm and NBC News partner Flashpoint Intelligence. Footage released at the same time shows the inside of the cabin after the explosion.
The Shebab said the attack was “retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against the Muslims of Somalia”.
Muhidin Mohamad Haji Ibrahim, who served under the government in 2008, was killed as an explosive device fitted in his auto exploded, Xinhua quoted a police official as saying.
Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, the suspected suicide bomber, was a passenger and was blown out of the plane.
It has also attacked the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu.
Somalia has waged a long-running battle against al Shabab, an al Qaeda offshoot.
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Al-Shabab, which wants to overthrow the Somali government and impose a harsh version of Islamic law, has targeted the Mogadishu airport in the past.
