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:
- Philippines: Bomb parts recovered in Nueva Ecija
September 24, 2023
Police recovered bomb materials during a patrol in Barangay Camatchile here on Thursday, September 21. Found were 40 caliber 5.56mm ammunition for M16 rifle, two magazine assemblies for M16 rifle, and essential parts of an Improvised Explosive Device or IED such as a nine-volt Battery and 134-centimeter wire. Read more… Source: Manila Bulletin
- Somalia: Deadly truck explosion hits checkpoint in Beledweyne town
September 23, 2023
The death toll in a truck bomb explosion in the central Somali town of Beledweyne has risen to 18, a top regional official has said, as the Horn of Africa nation battles armed groups. Abdirahman Dahir Gure, the interior minister of Hirshabelle state where Beledweyne is located, announced the latest toll on Saturday in the wake ...
- 11 Somali Soldiers Killed as AU Forces Start Second Round of Troop Drawdown
September 19, 2023
Eleven Somali government soldiers were killed and three others injured in a roadside explosion Monday in the southwestern Gedo region, officials said, as the African Union peacekeeping force began a second round of troop withdrawals. The explosion targeted a convoy of military vehicles between the towns of Luuq and Doolow, deputy governor of security and policy ...
- Cyprus: Football referees go on strike after latest car bomb attack
September 19, 2023
Referees in Cyprus have gone on indefinite strike after an apparent arson attack on a car belonging to an official’s mother, the latest incident in a campaign of terror that has run for nearly a decade. Reports in Cyprus said a vehicle belonging to the mother of the referee Menelaos Antoniou had burst into flame early ...
- Somalia: Al-Shabab attacks Ethiopian military convoys in Bakool region
September 17, 2023
Al-Shabab militants attacked convoys carrying Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia’s southwester Bakool region early Sunday, Somali officials said. The ambush targeted two convoys, one traveling from the Somali town of Yeed to Wajid and the second convoy as it traveled from El Barde to the town of Huddur. Ethiopian troops have bases in Wajid and Huddur. A Somali ...
- Kenya: At least four people killed in IED explosion in Mandera
September 17, 2023
At least four civilians were on Saturday killed when their vehicle ran over an Improvised Explosive Device in Qurqura area, Elwak, Mandera County. Reports indicate that three died on the spot while one succumbed to the injuries receiving medical attention hospital. Police at the scene established that eight people were injured in the accident that happened ...
- India: ISIS using travelling trainers to teach IED-making in states
September 17, 2023
Terror organisation Islamic State (ISIS) has switched to a new tactic of recruiting “roaming trainers” to make improvised explosive device (IED). The trainers shift base continuously and impart explosive-making training to sleeper cells in different states. Questioning of arrested ISIS operatives Imran Khan and Mohd Yunus Saki, who fell into the net of the National Investigation ...
- Iraq: Three shepherds killed in landmine explosion in Salahudin province
September 17, 2023
Three shepherds from one family were killed Saturday in a landmine explosion in Iraq’s central province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said. The incident occurred when the shepherds took their sheep in a rugged area near the town of al-Eith in the northern part of the province, Col. Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua. Iraqi security forces ...
- How ‘war on terror’ was fought and won in Southeast Asia – for now
September 15, 2023
In the early 2000s, the potential for terror attacks in Southeast Asia appeared dramatically different from today. Indonesia was rocked by the Christmas Eve church bombings on December 24, 2000, that killed 18 people. Just six days later, Metro Manila in the Philippines experienced similar bombings that killed 22 people. In 2002, a series of bombings ...
- US to conduct new interviews into the deadly 2021 bombing at Kabul airport
September 15, 2023
The United States military has announced it will conduct interviews with service members about the events leading up to a deadly suicide bombing near Kabul’s airport in August 2021, when the country was withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. On Friday, the Pentagon’s Central Command said that it would interview about two dozen people about the explosion ...
- Somalia: Al-Shabaab Suicide Car Bomb Attack Targets Galmudug leaders
September 15, 2023
In a brazen act of terror, the notorious extremist group al-Shabaab orchestrated a devastating suicide car bomb attack in Laas Ga’amey, Somalia. The attack targeted a gathering of high-ranking politicians, regional leaders, and local militia commanders who had convened to discuss and plan counterterrorism operations. The attack unfolded in the frontline village of Laas Ga’amey, nestled ...
- Belgian education minister condemns school arson attacks
September 15, 2023
Belgian education minister Caroline Desir has condemned a series of arson attacks on schools in recent days in protest against a new mandatory sex education course, saying the attacks were acts of “extreme brutality”. A total of eight schools have been targets of arson or graffiti against the Education in Relational, Affective and Sexual Life (EVRAS) ...
- Nigeria: Commuters injured, one killed ‘after running into IED planted by ISWAP in Borno
September 14, 2023
A commercial vehicle travelling on the Kareto road in Mobbar LGA of Borno exploded after running into a roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Wednesday. The IED was believed to have been laid for the troops of 5 brigade Operation Hadin Ka by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). During the attack, one passenger was ...
- Israel: Six Palestinians killed in IED explosion during riots at Gaza border fence
September 14, 2023
A violent protest involving hundreds of rioters took place near the northern Gaza Strip border fence last night. Israeli authorities reported rioters throwing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and grenades. In one incident, Hamas-affiliated terrorists reportedly tried to detonate an IED at a gate by the border fence. The IED allegedly exploded during the attempt to set ...
- India: One dies, another injured in IED blast triggered by Maoists in Jharkhand
September 13, 2023
Cleaner of a tractor was killed while the driver is still struggling for his life after the IED, planted by Maoists in Kolhan jungles, blew up under the pressure of the wheels of a tractor heading towards Hatiburu CRPF camp in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. According to police, the tractor was carrying construction material for ...
