Malta hijack ends peacefully
The prime minister of the little Mediterranean island, Joseph Muscat, tweeted: "Hijackers relinquished, searched and brought in custody"
Hijackers armed with what were most likely reproduction weapons forced associate plane to land in Malta on weekday before releasing all their hostages unhurt and surrendering, having declared loyalty to Libya’s late leader Muammar Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Television footage showed 2 men being junction rectifier from the craft in handcuffs. The prime minister of the small Mediterranean island, Joseph Muscat, tweeted: “Hijackers given, searched and brought in custody”.
The airliner A320 had been on an enclosed flight in African nation on weekday morning once it had been pleased to Malta, five hundred kilometre (300 miles) north of the Libyan coast, when a person told the crew he had a grenade.
Muscat aforementioned the bomb and 2 pistols the hijackers were additionally carrying seemed to be replicas, in line with associate initial rhetorical examination.
A Libyan television station rumored it had spoken by phone with a hijacker World Health Organization represented himself as head of a pro-Gaddafi party. Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed in associate rebellion in 2011, and African nation has been racked by factional violence since.
With troops positioned a number of hundred metres (yards) away, buses were driven onto the tarmac at Malta International field to hold away 109 passengers, furthermore as a number of the crew. tv footage showed no signs of struggle or alarm.
After the passengers had left the plane, a person in brief appeared at the highest of the steps with a visible inexperienced flag resembling that of Gaddafi’s now-defunct state.
Libya’s Channel station aforementioned one hijacker, World Health Organization gave his name as Moussa Shaha, had aforementioned by phone he was the pinnacle of Al-Fateh Al-Jadid, or The New Al-Fateh. Al-Fateh is that the name that Muammar el-Qaddafi gave to Gregorian calendar month, the month he staged a coup in 1969, and also the word came to suggest his returning to power.
In a tweet, the station later quoted the hijacker as saying: “We took this live to declare and promote our new party.”
STANDOFF ON TARMAC
Lawmaker Hadi al-Saghir told Reuters that Abdusalem Mrabit, a fellow member of Libya’s House of Representatives on the plane, had told him the 2 hijackers were in their mid-20s and were from the Tebu ethnos in southern African nation. when the standoff finished peacefully, Muscat told a group discussion there had been talks between Maltese authorities and also the Libyan hijackers.
The men had asked for 2 Maltese negotiators to board the craft, however this was rejected.
“We weren't willing to barter till there was a surrender,” he said, adding that the hijackers had not requested asylum. A senior Libyan security official told Reuters the primary news of the hijack came during a decision from the pilot to the tower at Tripoli’s Mitiga field.
“Then they lost communication with him,” the official aforementioned, speaking on condition of obscurity. “The pilot tried terribly arduous to possess them land at the right destination however they refused.” The craft, operated by state-owned Afriqiyah Airways, had been flying from Sebha in southwest African nation to Tripoli, a visit that will sometimes take to a small degree over 2 hours.
The last major hijacking on Malta was in 1985, once Palestinians took over associate Egyptair plane. Egyptian commandos stormed the craft and dozens of individuals were killed.
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