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Somali Official: Bomb Blew Hole in Passenger Jet

“The security forces have detained people suspected of being involved the bomb that exploded inside that plane”, Jama said.

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A bomb caused the explosion that ripped a hole in the fuselage of a passenger plane shortly after it took off from Somalia’s main airport on Tuesday, killing one person, the government said.

“The incident is now being investigated by Civil Aviation Authority in Mogadishu as well as technical team of aircraft owners Hermes Airlines, Greece, in close coordination with Civil Aviation Authority, Greece, and aircraft manufacturers Airbus”, the airline said in a statement.

A group has yet to take responsibility for the blast, but a US official confirmed that investigators are going forward under the impression that extremist group Al-Shabab are the perpetrators of the act. “It was meant to kill all aboard”, Jamac was quoted by the BBC as saying Saturday.

Authorities said that they believed he was sucked out of the plane when the blast occurred.

Numerous 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, according to Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun.

Representatives of al-Shabaab weren’t available to comment.

Two people were injured before the pilot was able to land safely back at Mogadishu Airport.

Two other passengers were treated for minor injuries.

But a U.S. government source warned that such tests have a high false-positive rate and further tests are under way. The minister stressed that the security of the airport will be tightened with the introduction of new measures.

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Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, head of the Dubai-based airline, said that while he couldn’t confirm Borle was the bomber, it would explain why members of his family haven’t come forward. Daallo typically operates around 15 flights a week to Mogadishu from Somali and nearby worldwide destinations.

Daallo airlines plane makes emergency landing at Mogadishu airport after an explosion