Reports have emerged that the man who died after he was bizarrely sucked out of a plane flying in Somalia airspace may have been a suicide bomber.

Some foreign media, among them Reuters, are quoting experts as indicating that a bang heard inside the plane could be related to a terror act, despite the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab in Somalia not claiming responsibility.

Also quoting investigators, the online platform of London's Daily Mail reported that the deceased was a suicide bomber who smuggled his device on board in his wheelchair.

The man had boarded the plane in a wheelchair, though doubts have since emerged whether he was actually disabled

"The suspected terrorist, thought to be part of the Al-Shabaab Islamist group, may have faked a disability to bypass security checks at Mogadishu airport," reported the Daily Mail.

Mysterious blast

The dead man has since been identified as a 55-year-old from Somaliland called Abdullahi Abdisalam Borle.

The plane incident occurred a few minutes after Daallo Airlines Flight A321 to Djibouti took off from Mogadishu airport, forcing it to return to the Somali capital where it made an emergency landing.

There had been a mysterious blast inside the airplane that ripped a hole in the fuselage through which the dead passenger was sucked out.

Locals who found the body said the man had fallen from the plane when on its way back to Mogadishu and that they had seen flames on the affected side of the aircraft.

Two other passengers sustained minor injuries in the incident, witnesses said.

The deceased's name was released following a Somali government cabinet meeting on February 4, 2015.

Somali deputy prime minister, Mohamed Omar Arte, said the matter was still under investigation.

This story was first published on Africa Review