As the investigation into the laptop bomb explosion that left a gaping hole in the aircraft's side and forced the commercial airliner flying over Somalia to make an emergency landing at the Mogadishu airport last Tuesday continues, new revelations about the incident and the culprit are being brought to light. Now, officials have uncovered security footage that shows two security workers handling the bomb that was the root of the entire incident.
In a video that has since been made public on Sunday, one airport worker takes the laptop and hands it to another employee, before they both hand it over to the man responsible for the attack - as well as its only casualty, according to CNN. Both workers have been arrested.
On top of the workers involvement in the incident, new details about the attacker, identified as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, has been revealed. Based on reports from airport officials, Borleh was scheduled to fly a Turkish Airlines flight, but joined the passengers on board the Daallo Airlines flight after his initial flight was cancelled, according to NPR.
"The passenger was scheduled to fly a Turkish Airlines flight that was canceled for bad weather," says NPR's Gregory Warner. "Instead, he joined rerouted passengers on the Dubai-based Daallo Airlines to Djibouti. He detonated his explosive midflight, blowing a hole in the cabin."
It was also revealed that Borleh knew exactly where to sit to cause the maximum amount of damage, but only failed to bring down the craft because he detonated his device between 12,000 feet and 14,000 feet - before the plane reached a sufficient altitude.
In light of the new development, Abdisalam Aato, a spokesman for the Somali Prime Minister, acknowledged the security lapses that caused the incident to pass, saying that more measures need to be taken to strengthen airport security, according to CNN.
"Security at our airport is strong, but we need to do more," he said. "While threats will always be there, this could happen at any other airport."
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but investigators still say they believe al-Shabab orchestrated the attack. Though technically an al-Qaeda affiliate, some al-Shabab factions have declared loyalty to ISIS, and have been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks Somalia, as well as neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda, have seen in recent years.
