Somaliland beefs up airports’ security after Mogadishu plane bombing

MOGADISHU — The breakaway northern Somali region of Somaliland announced its beefing up security for its airports in the wake of a recent bombing on a Somali airliner which has made an emergency landing at the Mogadishu airport last week.

A suspected suicide bomber blew a hole in the fuselage of a Daallo Airlines plane, with Somali officials said that the suspected suicide bomber had sucked out of the plane as his body was found in Balad town, 30km north of Mogadishu.

Somaliland’s aviation minister Osman Abdillahi Sahardid said that the enclave would ban all liquids aboard airplanes to ensure the safety of the airports and passengers flying to Somaliland.

“Computers will have to also be switched on before boarding the plane, but then again all liquids and sharp objects are strictly prohibited.” Mr. Sahardid said Wednesday.

The mysterious mid-air explosion in Daallo Airlines’ aircraft has sent alarm across the world as security experts warned that the attack showed militant group’s desire to add attacks on air transportations into their global jihad catalog.

In October last year, a Russian airliner was brought down by a bomb in Egypt’s Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. The ISIS group claimed it was behind the bombing.

HOL