MOGADISHU: It was a bomb that blew a hole in a jetliner, killing one person and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing on Tuesday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, a Somali official said on Saturday.

“Experts who were investigating the cause of the blast in the plane concluded that a bomb was the cause,” said Ali Jama Jangali, Somalia’s transport minister at a press conference in Mogadishu.

“The bomb aimed to kill all onboard the plane. Al Shabab was behind it,” he said of the explosion on a Daallo Airlines Airbus 321.

He said the findings are preliminary and the investigation is continuing.

Six people have been arrested in connection with the blast after examinations of CCTV images in the airport, a senior Somali intelligence official said.

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, Al Shabab, have not claimed responsibility for the incident, although the group is suspected.

One passenger, Abdullahi Abdisalam Borle, died, according to Somali officials who did not give any details. A man’s body was found in the town of Balad, 30 kilometres north of Mogadishu, according to police who said he might have been blown from the plane.

All other 74 passengers on the plane were safe after the pilot returned the plane safely to Mogadishu airport.

The explosion happened about 15 minutes after the plane took off and it was still ascending.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016

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