The co-pilot of the FlyDubai plane who allegedly attacked the plane’s captain and attempted to crash a flight bound for Israel on Wednesday is an Omani national who was previously suspended from flying by Oman Air after being identified as a security risk, according to senior intelligence and law enforcement officials.
Multiple sources familiar with the investigation identified the suspected attacker as 29-year-old Hamam Al Hammami.
The officials told ABC News that Al Hammami, while working as a co-pilot trainee for Oman Air in 2024, was found to be in possession of extremist materials. The suspect was allowed to continue working for the airline in an administrative role, the sources said.
Read more…
Source: ABC News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Yurtugh Tactical: Profiling the Anti-Chinese Uyghur Training Group in Syria
January 20, 2023
The rise of tactical groups dates to 2017 and 2018, when the first videos and photos of Malhama Tactical in Syria began to circulate. In those same years, other tactical groups began operating in Syria, but escaped the scrutiny of analysts because they were not present on social networks, did not have websites, and avoided ...
- At Least 32 Peacekeeping, Associated Personnel Killed in Malicious Attacks during 2022, United Nations Staff Union President Says
January 20, 2023
At least 32 United Nations peacekeeping personnel — 28 military and four police, including one woman police officer — were killed in deliberate attacks in 2022, the United Nations Staff Union said today. For the ninth year in a row, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was the deadliest for peacekeepers with ...
- Nigeria: Double explosions rock Port Harcourt APC rally
January 20, 2023
Three persons have been reported injured, following double explosions that rocked a rally of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Rumu-Woji Play Ground, also known as Ojukwu Field, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Publicity Secretary of the APC, Rivers State, Darlington Nwauju, who shared photos of two female members affected. Read more… Source: Vanguard
- Jammu and Kashmir: IED defused near Government Medical College in Rajouri
January 18, 2023
Panic gripped Rajouri as an IED was found inside the city area near the Government Medical College on Wednesday. The IED was defused by a bomb disposal squad that reached the spot after locals informed the police about a suspicious black packet. As per initial information, the IED was packed in a tiffin box and kept ...
- Pakistan ‘concerned’ over rising militancy along Pak-Afghan border
January 17, 2023
Pakistan has expressed concern over the uptick in militancy along its border with Afghanistan. In an interview with the leading American magazine, Newsweek, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Munir Akram warned that unless the economic situation improves in Afghanistan, the Taliban may begin to lose members to more militant groups like ISIS or ...
- Somalia: Al-Shabab launches deadly attack on military base north of Mogadishu
January 17, 2023
Al-Shabab launched a deadly attack on a Somali military base on Tuesday, just a day after the government claimed a “historic victory” over the jihadists with the capture of a strategic coastal town. The Islamists detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Mogadishu before gunmen stormed the compound, ...
- Pakistan: Police mobile van escapes bomb blast in Lakki Marwat
January 17, 2023
Mobile van of the Lakki Marwat city police station narrowly escaped a bomb blast here on Monday. An official said unknown miscreants had planted an improvised explosive device under a culvert on the Old Kutchery Road to target a police patrolling party. He said the area where the bomb was planted was at a stone’s throw ...
- DR Congo: Bomb detonates in church in North Kivu province
January 15, 2023
In a statement sent to reporters, military spokesman Antony Mualushayi said that the “terrorist act” occurred in a pentecostal church in the town of Kasindi in North Kivu, which lies on the border with neighbouring Uganda. “The security services have already taken control of the place and the injured have been evacuated to local health facilities,” ...
- India: CRPF personnel injured in IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district
January 14, 2023
An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was on January 14 injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by suspected Naxalites exploded in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, police said. The incident took place around 8:45 a.m. near Pegdapalli village under Tarrem police station limits when a road opening party of the CRPF’s ...
- 14 Malian soldiers killed by explosives in multiple attacks in Mopti Region
January 12, 2023
Coordinated attacks by Islamic extremists have killed 14 Malian soldiers and wounded nearly a dozen, the army said. Multiple improvised explosive devices detonated between Dia and Diafarabe villages as well as between Koumara and Macina towns in central Mali, said Col. Souleymane Dembele, the director of public relations for the army, in a statement Wednesday. During the ...
- Kenya: Four killed in suspected IED attack in Garissa
January 11, 2023
Four people have lost their lives after suspected Al-Shabaab militants targeted a convoy of Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) engineers in Garissa. Police say the victims who were part of a team on a routine assessment of the LAPSSET road, lost their lives when the vehicle they were traveling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device ...
- Afghanistan: Explosion near the entrance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul
January 11, 2023
A bomb blast took place near the entrance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul earlier today, according to local sources. Kabul Police Spokesperson, Khalid Zadran, in a tweet said that the explosion happened in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the heart of Kabul today (Wednesday), causing casualties. Mr. Zadran said the security ...
- Somalia: Three Killed in Suicide Bombing in Central Somalia
January 11, 2023
A suicide bombing occurred today in the Halgan area of the Hiran region, resulting in the death and injuries of officials and citizens. Eyewitnesses told Shabelle radio by phone that a car filled with explosives went off in Halgan during the morning rush-hour, targeting senior regional officials and military officers. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility, saying it struck ...
- Why is an ex-Syria War jihadist fighting for Ukraine against Russia?
January 10, 2023
A Syrian Civil War Chechen jihadist organization leader was confirmed as fighting in Ukraine against Russian forces in footage published by Ukrainian military intelligence on Saturday. Rustam Azhiev, better known by his nom-de-guerre Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, was shown in a video of operations in the Donbas city of Bakhmut, firing what was identified as an ...
- Northern Ireland: 60% of bombings and 41% of shootings occurred in Derry/Strabane
January 10, 2023
The local policing district accounted for 41 per cent of all security-related shootings and 60 per cent of all bombing incidents in the 12 month period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. “Of the 29 shooting incidents in the last 12 months, the highest number occurred in Derry City and Strabane (12). Belfast experienced ...