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Somalia's Islamist militant group al-Shabab says it carried out a bomb attack on a plane that blew a huge hole in its fuselage earlier this month.

In an emailed statement, al-Shabab said the attack was revenge for Western intelligence operations in Somalia.

The Daallo Airlines Airbus 321 with 74 passengers on board made an emergency landing in the capital Mogadishu after the explosion shortly after take-off.

One person, said to be the bomber, was reportedly blown out of the plane.

The explosion happened about 15 minutes into the flight, when the plane was only at around 11,000ft (3,350m) and the cabin was not yet pressurised.

Most of the passengers had originally been booked on a Turkish Airlines flight but the flight was cancelled due to bad weather a few hours before take-off, Turkish Airlines said.

In its statement, al-Shabab said it had targeted Turkish Airlines because it said the Nato state was supporting Western operations in So