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Chechen Rebel Leadership Denies Involvement in Hijacking
A Chechen rebel representative said Friday that the Chechen leadership has no relation to Thursday's hijacking of the Russian Tu-154 passenger airliner.
"This act is absolutely unacceptable for us, and the Chechen leadership does not have and cannot have any relation to it, because it is convinced that the peaceful population should not suffer," Mairbek Vachagayev, a representative of the Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, told the Ekho Moskvy radio Friday.
Earlier reports said the hijackers were led by former Chechen Interior Minister Aslambek Arsayev, and his brother and nephew were in the gang.
Vachagayev did not rule out the possibility that the plane was hijacked by the Arsayev brothers, but in any case "it is an act of individuals and the Chechen leadership does not bear responsibility for it."
According to latest reports from the Medina airport, where the hijacked plane is located, the hijackers have demanded full refueling for a 5,000 kilometer flight to Afghanistan, but failed to get permission from the Saudi authorities.
A spokesman at Medina airport said the Saudi government would not give permission to the departure of the plane until all the hostages were set free.
Igor Kremnyov, a senior Russian diplomat in Saudi capital Riyadh, said Friday in a live broadcast on RTR television that the number of released hostages was put at 47, including 27 Russian citizens,
"The last woman released from the hijacked plane is a citizen of Moldova who was given the necessary medical assistance, and she is all right now," the diplomat said.
All the passengers released from the plane are given medical assistance, food and are accommodated at a hotel, the diplomat said.
Latest Interfax report said two more hostages were freed, bringing the released number to 49.
An estimated 100 to 120 passengers are still kept hostages aboard the plane.
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