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.
