On February 2, 2016, a laptop bomb exploded on a Dalo Airlines flight. In this suicide attack, only the attacker was killed and 74 passengers were saved. The real target was Turkish Airlines, whose flight was cancelled.
Mogadishu: Exactly a decade ago, on 2 February 2016, it is about to be 10 years since the horrific bomb blast on the Dalo Airlines plane that shocked the world. This suicide attack was carried out using a laptop bomb on a flight going from Somalia’s capital Mogadishu to Djibouti. But see the miracle of fate, 74 passengers survived and only the attacker was killed.
This attack was carried out by a Somali citizen named Abdullahi Abdislam Borle. He had boarded the plane with a laptop with explosives hidden in it. CNN reported that he had already selected the seat and location that would cause the most damage to the plane.
The blast occurred 15 minutes after the plane took off. At that time the plane was at an altitude of about 11,000 feet. Since the cabin pressure of the plane had not completely stabilized, the blast left a one meter big hole in the side of the plane. Due to the shock of the blast the attacker fell out of the plane and was killed. Due to the pilot’s intelligence, the plane immediately succeeded in making an emergency landing in Mogadishu.
Turkish Airlines was the target
The most shocking thing is that this attack was not actually supposed to happen on Dalo Airlines. Turkish Airlines’ flight was canceled that day due to strong winds, after which 74 of its passengers were shifted to Dalo Airlines. The attacker had also initially taken a Turkish Airlines ticket.
The terrorist organization Al-Shabaab later clarified that their targets were Western officials and Turkish soldiers. Two people behind the blast were sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court in Somalia. Eight other people involved in the case also received jail sentences of varying lengths.