Opinion
Barry Artiste
Update, Libyan dispels reports that the hijacking of a Sudanese Plane is over.
There are no reports of passengers injured. Previous to this after a tense 22 hour standoff with Libyan troops, it was reported that 2 hijackers surrendered, in what Darfur authourities call a terrorist act.
The hijackers requested fuel to make their way to France. I will update as the story develops.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iTfY8odc91tVaFFtH6Aan-Ix6NTAD92QKKOO0
2 hijackers of Darfur plane surrender in Libya
By KHALED EL-DEEB – 1 hour ago
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Two hijackers who commandeered a jetliner from Sudan’s Darfur region and diverted it to a remote desert airstrip in southern Libya surrendered Wednesday after a 22-hour standoff, an airline official said.
Sun Air Executive Director Murtada Hassan said officials at the airport in Kufra, Libya, informed him of
the surrender. He said there were only two hijackers but that others may have slipped out with the 87 passengers who were released earlier.
The number and identities of the hijackers, who demanded maps and fuel to fly to Paris, has been unclear.
Officials at the airport in Libya had said they were Darfur rebels, but Hassan said their motives were personal and that they had no connection with any political or rebel groups. Due to security reasons, he said he could not reveal what the personal matters were.
Hijackers commandeered the Boeing 737 jetliner, which was carrying 95 passengers and crew, soon after it took off Tuesday from the southern Darfur town of Nyala, not far from a refugee camp that the Sudanese military attacked on Monday. Rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Khartoum’s government, which has been accused of unleashing militia fighters in response.
The plane, which had been en route to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, was diverted to a World War II-era airstrip in Libya’s Sahara desert oasis of Kufra.
Some 500 security personnel and police descended on the plane as negotiators worked to free the passengers, said Sudan’s consul in Kufra, Mohammed al-Bila Othman, according to Libya’s official JANA news agency.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry called the hijacking an “irresponsible terrorist act” and said they wanted the hijackers to be extradited.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080827-157174/
Libya-denies-Sudan-jet-hijacking-over Libya denies Sudan jet hijacking over Agence France-Presse
First Posted 20:46:00 08/27/2008
TRIPOLI—A Libyan official denied on Wednesday that the hijackers of a Sudanese passenger jet had been arrested, as announced by the airline’s manager.
“The plane is still where it was with its doors closed and the hijackers still inside with the crew,” the official told Agence France-Presse from Kufra oasis in the Libyan desert where the aircraft was forced to land on Tuesday evening.
(Photo Inset)
In this image from Libyan television the hijacked Boeing 737 Sudanese airliner sits at the remote desert airstrip in Libya’s Sahara desert oasis of Kufra Wednesday Aug. 27, 2008. The hijackers of the plane that took off from Sudan’s Darfur region were releasing passengers Wednesday a civil aviation official said. The hijackers commandeered the Boeing 737 jetliner, which was carrying 95 passengers and crew, soon after it took off Tuesday from the southern Darfur town of Nyala, not far from a refugee camp that the Sudanese military attacked Monday. The hijacked airliner belongs to a private company, Sun Air, the Sudanese civil aviation authority said. (AP Photo/Libyan TV via APTN)
IN the second Photo Inset image show..
In this image from Libyan television passengers get off a bus shortly after being released from the hijacked Sudanese airliner in Libya’s Sahara desert oasis of Kufra Wednesday Aug. 27, 2008. The hijackers of the plane that took off from Sudan’s Darfur region were releasing passengers Wednesday a civil aviation official said. The hijackers commandeered the Boeing 737 jetliner, which was carrying 95 passengers and crew, soon after it took off Tuesday from the southern Darfur town of Nyala, not far from a refugee camp that the Sudanese military attacked Monday. The hijacked airliner belongs to a private company, Sun Air, the Sudanese civil aviation authority said. (AP Photo/Libyan TV via APTN)
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