A wheelchair-bound suicide bomber is suspected of ripping a hole in a Somali plane.

The explosion that punctured the aircraft's fuselage in the Somali capital may have been caused by a passenger in a wheelchair.

A hole in the Somali plane. Photo: AP

Investigators suspect the man deliberately used a wheelchair to bypass the stringent security screening system at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. He is suspected of detonating a bomb that damaged the aircraft's fuselage, but did not cause the Daallo Airlines plane to crash, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"An individual in a wheelchair is suspected of being a suicide bomber," a Western diplomat announced yesterday regarding the investigation.

The force of the explosion sent the suicide bomber flying out of the plane. His body landed near Bal'ad district, a short distance from the capital.MogadishuApproximately 30 km away, the Airbus A321, scheduled to arrive in Djibouti, was forced to make an emergency landing just minutes after takeoff from Aden Abdulle International Airport.

Video: Somali plane makes emergency landing.

Somali officials said the passenger who fell from the plane was identified as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, 55, from Somaliland, but they did not confirm whether he was the suicide bomber. The crew and 74 other passengers on board survived, although two were injured. The CEO of Daallo Airlines said they found explosive residue on the plane, but could not yet confirm with certainty that the aircraft was bombed.

Investigators suspect al-Shabab, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda that emerged in Somalia in 2006, was behind the incident. Al-Shabab has intensified its efforts in recent months to regain control of lost territories in Somalia, while seeking to overthrow the Western-backed government.

Location where the incident occurred. Graphic: AP

According to VNE