Airport workers seen with laptop used in Somalia in-flight jet blast
Officials: Airport workers seen with explosive laptop
Story highlights
- Daallo Airlines CEO comments on security concerns
- Sources say a laptop computer concealed a bomb
- In a video released by officials, an airport worker takes the laptop and hands it to another employee
(CNN)Somali intelligence officials say two airport workers handled a laptop containing a bomb that later exploded in a passenger plane.
In a video made public on Sunday by officials, one airport worker takes the laptop and hands it to another employee.
The employees then hand it over to a man who was killed when the laptop explosion blew a hole in the plane's fuselage, said Abdisalam Aato, a spokesman for the Somali Prime Minister.
Both workers have been arrested.
Somali officials identified the lone fatality as suspect Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh. He was sucked out of the airliner through the hole from the blast Tuesday.
Bomber knew where to sit
Investigators suspect Borleh, a Somali national, carried a laptop computer with a bomb in it onto the plane, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
He knew precisely where to sit and how to place the device to maximize damage, the source told CNN.
Given the placement, the blast likely would have set off a catastrophic secondary explosion in the fuel tank if the aircraft had reached cruising altitude, the source said.
But the explosion happened at a lower altitude, between 12,000 feet and 14,000 feet, killing the Somali national and injuring two others.
Though preliminary tests showed the bomb contained a military grade of the explosive TNT, the source said, it failed to bring down Daallo Airlines Flight 3159. The pilot turned around and landed the Airbus safely in Mogadishu.
"Security at our airport is strong, but we need to do more," Aato told CNN in response to concerns about airport security. "While threats will always be there, this could happen at any other airport," he said.
Somalia asked U.S. officials for help with investigations, and several FBI agents are on the ground assisting in Mogadishu, the spokesman said.
"This was a sophisticated attack ... so we reached out to our international partners," Aato said.
Region in turmoil
Asked about comments reportedly made by the plane's pilot that security at Mogadishu Airport was "zero" with confusion over who accessed planes from the tarmac, the CEO of Daallo Airlines confirmed there had been concerns.
"He's right. You know, there are some lapses, otherwise this (would have) never happened," CEO Mohamed Ibrahim Yassin told CNN.
"You know the region is a region which is under turmoil ... so you can expect such things to happen," he said.
"It is happening all over the world, it's not only happening in Mogadishu. You know, this threat is all over the place. Now we'll add one more layer of security now. We have employed a professional security company ... to do secondary screening."
Militants behind attack
Investigators believe the attack was orchestrated by Al-Shabaab, although they are not certain Borleh was a direct member of the group, according to the source. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Al-Shabaab is an al Qaeda affiliate, though some of its factions have declared loyalty to ISIS. It has been responsible for some of the deadliest violence in recent years in Somalia and surrounding nations, including Kenya and Uganda.
At least 20 people have been arrested in connection with the blast aboard the plane, the Prime
Minister's spokesman said.
Somalia plane bomber was meant to be on Turkish flight: airline executive
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber who blew a hole in the fuselage of a Daallo Airlines plane last week and forced it to make an emergency landing in Mogadishu was meant to be on a Turkish Airlines flight, the Daallo chief executive said on Monday.
The bomber was sucked out of the plane through the one-meter wide hole when the blast ripped open the pressurized cabin in mid-air, officials said. The pilot landed the plane in the Somali capital, from where it had taken off.
No group has so far taken responsibility for the attack but a U.S. government source last week said the United States suspects Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which is aligned to al Qaeda, was responsible for the blast.
Mohamed Yassin, Daallo Airlines chief executive, said most of the passengers who were on the bombed flight were scheduled to fly with Turkish Airlines, but were ferried to Djibouti by one of his planes after the Turkish carrier canceled its flight, citing bad weather.
"That particular passenger (who was behind the blast) boarded the aircraft on a Turkish Airlines boarding pass and was on the list for the Turkish Airlines manifest," Yassin told Reuters by telephone from Dubai.
Yassin said Daallo picked up the 70 stranded Turkish Airlines passengers to fly them to Djibouti, including the suicide bomber. In total, the flight had 74 passengers.
Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Minister's spokesman said.
Somalia plane bomber was meant to be on Turkish flight: airline executive
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber who blew a hole in the fuselage of a Daallo Airlines plane last week and forced it to make an emergency landing in Mogadishu was meant to be on a Turkish Airlines flight, the Daallo chief executive said on Monday.
The bomber was sucked out of the plane through the one-meter wide hole when the blast ripped open the pressurized cabin in mid-air, officials said. The pilot landed the plane in the Somali capital, from where it had taken off.
No group has so far taken responsibility for the attack but a U.S. government source last week said the United States suspects Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which is aligned to al Qaeda, was responsible for the blast.
Mohamed Yassin, Daallo Airlines chief executive, said most of the passengers who were on the bombed flight were scheduled to fly with Turkish Airlines, but were ferried to Djibouti by one of his planes after the Turkish carrier canceled its flight, citing bad weather.
"That particular passenger (who was behind the blast) boarded the aircraft on a Turkish Airlines boarding pass and was on the list for the Turkish Airlines manifest," Yassin told Reuters by telephone from Dubai.
Yassin said Daallo picked up the 70 stranded Turkish Airlines passengers to fly them to Djibouti, including the suicide bomber. In total, the flight had 74 passengers.
Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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