Saudi special forces launched an assault Friday on the hijacked Russian plane and arrested three armed Chechen hijackers, Saudi officials said.
All the remaining passengers on board were set free, and one of them was injured in the raid, they said.
This brought to an end the hijacking crisis, in which the Moscow-bound Russian passenger plane was taken over by the Chenchens soon after takeoff from Istanbul, Turkey Thursday and diverted to the Saudi city of Medina.
Before the Saudi forces stormed the plane, 46 of a total of 174 passengers and crew aboard the plane have been released or escaped.