Who is Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh?

Che -Guevara · February 16, 2016

February 16, 2016

BY ABDI GULED

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — He was a teacher at an Islamic school, known in his hometown in northwestern Somalia as a talkative, religious man with a sense of humor.

He has also been identified as a suicide bomber who tried to bring down an airliner.

Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh boarded a plane on Feb. 2 with a bomb which exploded at 11,000 feet. The blast created a hole in the fuselage of the Airbus 321, just above the wing, and Borleh was blown out, his body falling to earth and landing in the Somali town of Balad.

Borleh said he was going abroad for health reasons, according to Sheikh Mohamed Abdullahi, a mosque imam in Hargeisa near where Borleh was from, and who met with him in January. Abdullahi estimated Borleh’s age at between 50 and 52, described him as “chatty,” and said that he had a leg problem that required him to sometimes walk with a cane.

“He travelled to Mogadishu to obtain a passport to go to either Turkey or India for medical reasons,” Abdullahi said in a telephone interview. “He was probably travelling overseas to straighten his leg.”

On Saturday, al-Shabab, Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, claimed responsibility for the attempt to destroy the plane with 81 passengers and crew aboard. The al-Qaida-linked group mocked efforts to prevent such attacks and threatened more “to purify this Muslim land from the filth of the disbelievers.”

“Despite all their security measures … the Mujahideen can and will get to them,” the group said.

There are mounting signs that al-Shabab had inside help.

A senior civil aviation security officer who supervised operations of screening machines at Mogadishu airport was one of 20 people arrested after he was seen on CCTV accompanying another man who handed the laptop believed to contain the bomb to Borleh after he had gone through security. The other man, identified as an airport employee, was also among those arrested.

“It was a meticulously planned and coordinated plot, and the bomber would never have gone beyond any security screening without the assistance of well-placed insiders facilitating his limitless access into the airport,” said a senior Somali counterterrorism official who insisted on anonymity for his own safety.

Borleh may also have had help from other official quarters.

A Somali federal official recommended that the government issue Borleh a passport, said a senior intelligence official in Somaliland, the autonomous region where Borleh was from. Borleh had been on security agents’ radar, “but we had never considered him to be dangerous,” the official told The Associated Press by phone from Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Officials are also looking at a lead that runs straight to Somalia’s foreign ministry.

A senior Somali immigration official said Borleh had obtained a Turkish visa to work in Turkey as a foreign ministry adviser, and provided the AP with a copy of a letter allegedly sent from the Somali Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, to the Turkish Embassy in Somalia’s capital. The letter asked the Turkish Embassy to facilitate a visa for Borleh to be “an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotions.”

But the Somali Embassy in Ankara denied making such a request to the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu and called the document a fake. The Somali Foreign Ministry and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotion Abdusalam H. Omer did not comment, despite repeated requests from AP over five days.

It is possible that al-Shabab, in a display of sophisticated deception, wrote the letter on official or official-looking stationery and sent it to the Turkish Embassy. The embassy declined to comment to AP on whether it had received the letter or acted on it.

Having the visa would have been key to getting aboard a flight, which originally was on Turkish Airlines. In its statement claiming responsibility, al-Shabab lashed out at Turkey, which has been a strong supporter of the Somali government.

The flight on Feb. 2 was supposed to have been on Turkish Airlines, but the airline canceled because of bad weather from a previous departure point, and Dubai-based Daallo Airlines was instead used. Flight 159 consequently took off an hour late, a delay which may have saved the passengers and crew.

If the bomb had gone off at cruising altitude, as it might have if it was rigged to a timing device set to coincide with the original flight time, the result could have been catastrophic, with the plane possibly disintegrating because of the vast difference between air pressure inside and outside at 30,000-plus feet.

Instead the blast happened earlier, at a lower altitude. Borleh was the only fatality and the plane’s controls were unaffected by the blast allowing the pilot able to fly the plane back to Mogadishu safely.

The statement from al-Shabab did not mention Borleh. Some intelligence officials believe he knowingly carried the bomb aboard, though that has not been conclusively established.

Borleh was seen as very religious but not a firebrand in his northwestern town of Borama, far from the battlegrounds of al-Shabab, which operates mostly in southern Somalia. While the extremist group doesn’t have a presence in the town near the Ethiopian border, intelligence officials say there are a few al-Shabab sympathizers there.

Borleh taught the Quran and Islamic ethics to local children but acquaintances said he didn’t discuss politics. He favored a long mustache and usually wore trousers cut to just below the knee. He was married and had children, though how many isn’t clear.

“He was a normal and humorous man, and he rarely talked about persecutions against Muslims in East Africa,” said a local journalist who met Borleh before he travelled to Mogadishu.

Abdullahi, the Muslim preacher in Hargeisa, is still trying to come to grips with what happened.

“It’s hard to believe he committed the crime being reported by media,” Abdullahi said.

With officials still trying to fill in the blanks, the man who fell from Flight 159 remains a cipher.

—

AP writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.

Source: AP

Mooge · February 16, 2016

niyoow it is very clear he was Somaliland agent. He is from Hargeisa.

niyoow it took Alshabab more than a week to claim the terror act. that tells you something. according to Calasoow, there was a dispute and Somaliland was working tirelessly to get Alshabab to claim the terror act quickly but Alshabab refused because they didn't do it. after one million dollar deal, Alshabab finally claimed it and Somaliland was relieved. If alshabab stayed Silent any longer, this would have been terrible publicity for Somaliland's reputation. Somaliland business people were heavily involved in the final deal with Alshaab.

it is a f'@#k'ed up country niyoow.

Tillamook · February 16, 2016

^

Ha ha ha?

There must be something to these accusations for it to bring out Mudane Oodka, our aged secessionist lurker-in-chief, from out under the rock he's been hiding all this time.

All jokes aside: it is well known that the Shabab and the administration of the hapless habros have always had a very cordial and working relationship. It is also known that, lately, the Silanyo administration and the Damjadiid clowns in Xamar have had a slight falling out; Ergo, this Daalo airline attack could well have been the first ominous rumblings of discontent between these two erstwhile friends.

Asad Ahmed · February 16, 2016

i advice The Mogadishu Admin to keep an eye on all northerners on the grounds of terrorism Connection,deport them if found guilty ,only by evidence

Che -Guevara · February 16, 2016

The Nexus between Somaliland and Al-Shabaab

http://www.kenyamedia.net/?p=323

Who are Peter Wolfson & Greta Backstrom?

Tillamook · February 16, 2016

^

Oh, snap!!!

Looks like shit has hit the ceiling fan??

galbeedi · February 16, 2016

Look, we need some real investigation by a Somali commission mandated to go the bottom of this issues. These are matters of life and death that needs to be investigated. I myself raised some issues about Hargeisa in 2008, and those deadly bombings that targeted the Presidential palace during Rayaale's reign. My theory was that Hirsi, could have arranged been some kind of truce--Do not attack us and we will not attack you. That doesn't mean Somalind is putting it's guard down. The people are vigilant and always report every up normal activity. Almost everyone knows their neighbors and non local activities are reported immediately. I do believe that local people have no intension of bombing their homes, families and businesses. I also believe these lone wolfs in Mogadishu who participates in the bombings . Something also must be said about the environment that indices young local boys and men to kill daily journalists and others and act like a normal people.

On the issues of individual " Reer Woqoyi" taking part of the bombing, could be explained by real investigation. in my few senses, I could say that IN Mogadishu and surrounding area, up to 10 bombings and attacks take place in every single month. Some times they increase , and other times , they go quite for a while. If hundred attacks happen in a year , the " Reer Woqoyi" could be less than 2% of those who participate. IN the Villa Somalia attack , which was the heart of the government power, the planners and attackers of 12 men were all from Dayniils, Galgaduud, Benadir and Bay. About six Attackers died in Liido Beech, all of them were southern. the Hotel that General Dhgabadan was living, about a dozen terrorists attacked and died , all were southerners. If someone, took a sample or simple statistics of all those participated, the Reer Woqoyi will be less than 1% percent.

I do not trust one single statement that warlord Dahir Calasow throwing around. Even if he gets some half truths, he does spin that to attack those he targeting for tribal reasons. He accused government ministers of taking part plots to kill people. He attacks the same intelligence service who are putting their life on the line by exposing their pictures in order for the terrorists to kill them.

I was trying to write something about Daalo last week and I did change my mind. I was afraid that he may find one of my cousins in Mogadishu , take his picture and announce that Galbeedi's cousin is behind those crimes. " WAlaahi inta aan qoray Ayaan masaxay".

Last week , he said that the two man carrying the labtop were from SNM community. two days latter he changed the name of the person and their clan background. This week for the third time he changed again. IF I were the government, I would have investigated Calasow and his contacts in the intelligence service. He leaks active investigation by jumping the gun and publishing bogus names sent to him by these sleepers in the NISA.

This is serious issue. Two years ago he accused a man to be behind the central hotel bombing . He put a picture of a person. Last year, that same person carrying that name was interviewed by the BBC and he denied being that person. We all found out that he was a different man than the one he put in the media. He recycled that same man by saying that the man from Borama was behind the Liido bombing and was arrested at the airport. It was all false.

The only person from Borama was a young mentally ill who was schizophrenic, and was in and out of mental wards in Germany , whom their family sent home so he may got better. Those killers got him and strapped him with bombs. His sisters who were in Awdal were questioned by Somaliland authorities and released latter. How can person like that work for Somaliland?.

I think this man Alasow is the worst personification of Somali people. Associating with him is like living in a gutter ( Bulaacad). HIs behaviour is like someone that was not raised properly.

Just like some of you, few years ago, my first impression was: if he cleans up the garbage he could do some hard hitting journalism. He lost my respect when he put the picture of the President , pointing to his private parts and accusing minister Fowsiya to unspeakable things. She was an honorable mother of grown children, yet he violated her dignity.

I do believe this man who died could be an innocent man that was framed. Maybe they told him to take the lap top to someone? who knows?.

By the way the so called Swedish journalists were recycling what Calsow was writing. WE need a real investigation not crab from another warlord.

galbeedi · February 16, 2016