MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Shebab insurgents on Saturday claimed responsibility for a bomb attack which ripped a hole in a passenger plane shortly after takeoff from the capital Mogadishu earlier this month.

On Feb 2, Shebab “mujahideen carried out an operation targeting dozens of Western intelligence officials and Turkish Nato forces aboard an airplane bound for Djibouti,” said a statement issued by the group.

The blast left a metre-wide (three-foot) hole in the fuselage of the Daallo Airlines plane shortly after it took off from Somalia’s main airport, killing the suspected bomber and forcing an emergency landing. Two of the 74 passengers aboard were slightly injured.

A passenger believed to be the bomber, identified as Abdulahi Abdisalam, was killed, probably after being propelled out of the aircraft in the explosion, investigators said.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2016