A hijacked Afghan plane with more than 160 people on board landed early Monday at Stansted Airport, north of London, hours after leaving Moscow.

The plane landed at the airport shortly after 0200 GMT following a flight from snowy Moscow where the hijackers had released 10 of their hostages after landing there on Sunday evening.

It is the latest stop for the hostages who spent four hours on the ground in Moscow.

British police in the airport had already begun to negotiate with the hijakers, a spokeswoman in the airport said.

It is not known yet what the hijakers were demanding from Britain.

The plane was hijacked on Sunday by about six men armed with pistols and grenades during an internal flight from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Sunday.

During the day, the aircraft landed twice in Central Asia -- first in Uzbekistan and then in Kazakhstan, where at least 10 passengers, including women and children, were released, and the plane was refuelled.

This is the first hijacked plane being allowed to land at a British airport.

Stansted was the usual choice for this type of incident because it was less congested than the British capital's main airport of Heathrow, the spokeswoman said.

Police at Stansted said regular exercises were conducted at the airport for this sort of incident.

The Boeing 727, belonging to Afghanistan's national carrier Ariana, was originally hijacked on an internal flight with 186 people aboard from Kabul to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif early on Sunday.

Reports said that the hijackers were demanding the release of Ismail Khan, a key opposition figure who had been in a Taleban jail since 1997.

A total of 13 people were freed at two stopovers en route to Moscow.

The hijackers have so far made no demands, though according to one report, they are seeking the release of Ismail Khan, a military commander of the anti-Taliban alliance.

According to estimates by Taliban and Afghan aviation authorities, the plane left Kabul with 186 people on board -- 21 children, 11 infants, 140 adults and 14 all-male crew.

Ariana is banned from flying abroad by United Nations sanctions which have also been imposed against the Taliban movement for its refusal to extradite or expel Saudi-born dissident, Osama bin Laden.

The Taliban in turn accuses Moscow of arming and training anti-Taliban fighters.

Russia and central Asian states including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan suspect the Taliban of backing rebels involved in the Chechen conflict.