Somali plane 'was holed by bomb' after Mogadishu takeoff

A blast that punched a large hole in the fuselage of a passenger plane at Somalia's Mogadishu airport on Tuesday was caused by a bomb, the BBC quoted Somali officials as saying Saturday.

"It was a bomb that exploded in the Daallo Airlines flight. It was meant to kill all aboard," Transport Minister Ali Ahmed Jamac said.

One passenger was sucked out of the plane and died, and two other passengers were injured.

The Djibouti-bound Airbus 321 was forced to make an emergency landing.

Some reports suggest that an explosive device may have been hidden inside a laptop of one of the passengers.
The blast happened shortly after take-off from the Somali capital.

No militant group has so far said it was behind the explosion.

In a statement shortly after the incident, Daallo Airlines said an investigation was launched by Somalia's Civil Aviation Authority, as well as a technical team from the aircraft's owners and its manufacturers, Airbus.