Somalia plane explosion: Al-Shabab claim responsibility for flawed mid-air bombing

The Somalian Islamic militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for an explosion in a plane that caused an alleged terrorists, a passenger who was in a wheelchair, being sucked out mid-flight. The Daallo Airlines Airbus 321 was carrying 74 passengers when it had to make an emergency landing on 2 February, after a blast ripped through the fuselage of the plane.

The plane safely landed in the capital Mogadishu after the explosion. The Somalian government said the blast was caused by a bomb intended to kill everyone on board. Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, from Somaliland, who is suspected of being the bomber, was sucked out of the side of the plane and died whilst two other passengers suffered minor injuries.

In the past few days, a video was made public by officials which featured which shows two airport workers allegedly handing explosives to the suspected terrorist. In the footage, taken from CCTV cameras in the airport, one worker takes the laptop bag and hands it to another employee.

The al-Qaeda linked insurgents said in a statement: "Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen carried out the airborne operation as a retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against the Muslims of Somalia."

Following the blast, it emerged that authorities believed Borleh detonated a bomb inside the wheelchair he was travelling on. The 55-year-old's body was later found near the district of Balad, about 20 miles from the capital.

Al-Shabaab, which means "The Youth", is an off-shoot of the Islamic Courts Union – a rival administration to the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia. They aim to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government and impose its own version of Islam in the country.

The war-torn nation has seen increased activities by the jihadists in recent months as they attempt to regain control of lost territories in Somalia. On 21 January, the Islamist insurgents attacked a beachfront restaurant killing 20 people on Mogadishu's popular Lido beach.

Somalia has been devastated by civil war since 1991 and the extremists even controlled Mogadishu and the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when it was defeated by African Union peacekeepers.