Somali militant group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the Bomb blast aimed at bringing down a Somali airliner earlier this month. The group said in a statement Saturday that it carried out the attack as “retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against Muslims of Somalia.” Al-Shabab said the explosion targeted Western and Turkish intelligence officials aboard Daallo Airlines Flight A321 to Djibouti on February 2. The mid-air blast blew a meter-wide hole in the aircraft, carrying 74 passengers, and forced the pilot to make an emergency landing 15 minutes after take-off from Mogadishu airport. The suspected suicide bomber, Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, was a passenger and was blown out of the plane. Security video footage taken at Mogadishu airport showed two men handing what looked like a laptop computer to Borleh after he passed through a security checkpoint. Authorities believe the laptop-like device was the bomb that caused the explosion. At least 15 people have been arrested in connection to the attack. VOA’s Somali Service contributed to this report.

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