DATE=2/6/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=AFGHAN HIJACK (L- 2ND UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-258883
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A hijacked Afghan airliner with more than 150
people aboard has left Moscow heading for an
undisclosed western European capital. From the
Russian capital, V-O-A's Peter Heinlein reports 20
hostages have been released since the plane was
commandeered over Afghanistan.
TEXT: The Ariana Air Boeing 727 jet was on the ground
in Moscow a little more than three and a half hours.
It lifted off into a snow-filled ski shortly before
one-thirty Monday morning heading west.
Federal Security Service spokesman Alexander Zdanovich
told reporters the hijackers asked for maps of
European airports before leaving.
Moscow was the third stop in a journey that began
Sunday as an internal flight from the Afghan capital,
Kabul, to the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Ariana
is banned from international flights by the U-N
sanctions imposed on the Taleban for refusing to hand
over the Saudi-born suspected terrorist Osama bin
Laden.
According to several released hostages, minutes after
takeoff from Kabul, about eight men armed with
pistols, grenades, and knives stood up and threatened
to blow up the plane unless their demands were met.
The jet was first diverted to Tashkent, capital of
neighboring Uzbekistan, where it was refueled and 10
hostages were allowed to go free.
Next the plane turned toward Moscow, but stopped
unexpectedly at Aktyubinsk, an oil town in northern
Kazakhstan, along the Russian border. There the jet
took on more fuel, and had a fuel leak repaired before
completing the flight to the Russian capital.
Federal Security spokesman Zdanovich said the
hijackers released 10 more hostages in Moscow, all of
them men. He said among the remaining passengers, 20
are women and about 24 are children.
Afghan diplomats in Moscow said the hijackers were
demanding the release of a prominent Afghan opposition
leader jailed by the Taleban administration.
Russia does not recognize the Taleban and Afghan
diplomats in Russia are allied with the opposition.
The hijacking is the second involving Afghanistan in
as many months. In December, the Taleban arranged the
peaceful conclusion of the hijacking of an Indian
Airlines plane after an eight-day standoff that ended
with the release of three pro-Kashmiri militants from
jail in India. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/ENE-T/gm
06-Feb-2000 20:12 PM EDT (07-Feb-2000 0112 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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