Somali bomb attempt chillingly similar to US plot

A MAN tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told reporters yesterday.

The Somali man – whose name has not yet been released – was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the November 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

“We don’t know whether he’s linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organisations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed,” said Barise.