Somalia plane explosion likely caused by a bomb

The explosion that forced a Somali plane to make
an emergency landing shortly after takeoff
appears to have been caused by a bomb, NBC
News has learned.
"It is likely this was a bomb attack," a high-
ranking diplomat with knowledge of the
investigation said Thursday.
That was echoed by Daallo Airlines chief
Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, who said he has
been in touch with investigators probing
Tuesday's apparent aerial attack.
"There's a residue, they're saying, of
explosives," Yassin said in an interview with
The Associated Press. "But they cannot
really make 100 percent that it's a bomb."
It will be several more days before the initial
findings are released, he said.
So far, no terrorist group have claimed credit for
the blast. But Somalia has been waging a long-
running battle with the terrorist group al Shabab,
which is allied with al Qaeda.
Meanwhile, the Somalis identified the passenger
who was killed after he was blown out of the
plane by the blast as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh,
55.
A high ranking intelligence officer with the Somali
government told NBC News that Borleh is not
believed to have been the bomber.
His body was found in the town of Jowhar which
about 56 miles north of Mogadishu and the
airport from which the Airbus A 321 with 74
passengers on board took off, officials said.
The jetliner was had only climbed to an elevation
of 12,000 to 14,000 feet when the blast rocked
the plane just minutes after it took off from
Mogadishu International Airport. Had it been
higher, the difference in pressure would likely
have been more devastating.
Capt. Vladimir Vodopivec, the pilot, managed to
turn the plane around and bring it safely back to
the airport.