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Russian Plane Hijacked From Turkey To Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, March 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two hijackers believed to be Chechens forced a Russian charter airliner with more than 160 passengers on board to fly Thursday from Turkey to the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia.
In Medina, the plane was surrounded by security forces and was parked away from main traffic at the airport, packed with Muslim pilgrims returning home after the annual hajj pilgrimage, said Abdul Fatah Mohammad Atta, the airport manager, the Washington Post reports.
The hijackers, who commandeered the Vnukovo Airline charter plane 30 minutes after it left Istanbul's Ataturk airport for Moscow, made no immediate demands upon landing, Medina airport director Abdul Fattah Ata told AFP.
The head of the kingdom's civil aviation authority, Ali al-Khalaf, said that, "no contact has been made with the hijackers."
Twenty minutes after takeoff one of the hijackers forced his way into the cockpit, Interfax reported. A fight ensued, during which the plane's altitude dropped suddenly from 24,000 feet to 14,000 feet.
Turkish Transport Minister Enis Oksuz said the hijackers were Chechens and were armed with knives. There were unconfirmed reports that they also had explosives on board the plane.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Kremlin assumed the kidnappers were from Chechnya, where separatists are waging a campaign for independence from Moscow, CNN adds.
He said that Russian security forces were on standby to be deployed to "liberate" the plane, if necessary, and that Putin had set up a crisis headquarters, headed by the federal security services' number two, Deputy Director Vladimir Pronichev, to deal with the hijacking, it went on to say.
Oksuz said that a passenger was injured when a scuffle broke out in a bid to prevent the hijackers from storming into the pilot's cabin.
Airline officials told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency the wounded passenger was in serious condition.
The plane also dropped 400 meters (1,300 feet) in altitude during the fight, Oksuz said.
The airliner, a Tupolev 156, passed over Cyprus and Egypt before landing in the western Saudi city of Medina, which after nearby Mecca, is Islam's holiest city.
Qatari Al-Jazeerah TV says the hijackers might have chosen Medina in the belief that no foreign forces would be able to intervene since, according to Muslim law, the city is closed to all non-Muslims, reports BBC.
Saudi authorities said the plane was carrying 167 passengers, but Vnukovo Airline officials said there were 162, of whom 98 were Russians. Officials in Ankara said 55 people on board were Turkish.
Russia's top prosecutor, Vladimir Ustinov, said he has opened a criminal investigation into the hijacking.
A Russian diplomat in Riyadh said "the Russian embassy is in contact with the Saudi authorities after having coordinated with them on the landing of the plane."
Russia has long accused Ankara of turning a blind eye to Chechen separatists who seek refuge in Turkey and has alleged that some Turkish citizens have joined the separatist uprising.
The Turkish government has denied the Russian accusations and in February Moscow and Ankara agreed to boost their bilateral cooperation on security.
The Chechen movement enjoys widespread sympathy in Turkey, particularly among Islamists.
In January 1996, a pro-Chechen commando group held hostage more than 200 passengers for three days in a ferryboat hijacked from the Black Sea port of Trabzon to protest the Russian war in Chechnya.
Russian troops pulled out of the secessionist republic after suffering defeat in the 1994-96 war.
But they stormed back on October 1, 1999, in an operation that has cost the lives of some 2,800 Russian troops, according to official sources.
Putin earlier this year announced a partial troop withdrawal from the republic, although specifics about such a withdrawal are vague and senior army generals appear hesitant to quit Chechnya.
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