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Russian Airliner Hijacking Ends Peacefully
The drama of the hijacking of a Russian airliner ended peacefully on Sunday, Chief of General Staff of Israel Defense Force (IDF) Shaul Mofaz announced.
All the passengers were safe and have been taken off the plane and driven to another location at the Uvda airport, 20 kilometers north of Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, Mofaz told a press conference at the airport.
The incident has come to an end after the hijacker surrendered the Israeli security forces, he said.
But the Israeli forces were still conducting an inch-by-inch examination of the plane, searching for possible explosives, other hijackers or weapons, he added.
The Israeli military suspected that the plane may be wired with explosives.
On learning the news, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was back en route to Washington for a meeting with US President Bill Clinton on Middle East peace process. Barak earlier returned to Israel to supervise the handling of the plane hijacking from London on his way to the US.
The Russian plane, a Tu-154 with 58 people including 10 crew member on board, was hijacked early Sunday en-route from Dagestan to Moscow. Dagestan is a Muslim region neighboring Chechnya, where Russian troops are fighting a rebellion by Islamic nationalists.
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