On Saturday Al Jazeera obtained a statement that the armed group claimed, the attack on the Daallo Airlines flight was part of an operation targeting dozens of Western intelligence officials and Turkish NATO forces.
The blast punched a one-metre-sized hole in the side of the Airbus A321 about 15 minutes after it had taken off from Mogadishu heading for Djibouti on February 2.Al-Shabab said “The operation was retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against the Muslims of Somalia”.
It added “While the operation did not bring down the plane, it struck terror in the hearts of the crusaders, demonstrating to the disbelievers that despite all their security measures and the strenuous efforts they make to conceal their presence, the Mujahideen can and will get to them”.
Last week, Somali Transport and Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jama said that a bomb made the mid-air explosion, because of which the plane was forced to make an emergency landing, . Abdulahi Abdisalam one of the passenger was killed and two out of around 60 passengers on board were slightly injured.
Fortunately the explosion did not damage the plane’s navigation system, and this gave a miraculous chance for the pilot to make the emergency landing.