Turkish Airliner Hijack Drama Ends

Two men — claiming ties to al Qaeda — hijacked a Turkish passenger plane bound for Istanbul on Saturday, holding several people hostage for more than four hours before surrendering to authorities, officials said. The men later apologized.

Six crew members and 136 passengers were on board the Atlasjet flight from Ercan airport in northern Cyprus when the men, claiming to have a bomb, demanded that the plane be diverted to Iran, authorities said.

Pilots managed to land at Antalya airport in southwest Turkey, and most of the passengers escaped safely when the hijackers released the women and children on board, officials said.

However, the hijackers held some crew members and passengers hostage for more than four hours before eventually allowing them to leave and peacefully surrendering to authorities, officials said.

"The adventure that started early in the morning finally came to an end," said Tuncay Doganer, the chief executive of the Atlasjet. "With the two hijackers surrendering, the incident ended with no bloodshed."

One of the men was Turkish and the other was believed to be a Palestinian carrying a Syrian passport, Transport Minister Osman Gunes said. Their motives were not immediately clear.

The men told police during initial questioning that they tried to storm the cockpit, said Alaaddin Yuksel, governor of Antalya. They told police they informed passengers they were members of the al Qaeda terror network and had plastic explosives, he said.

Experts were examining the material the hijackers had claimed was a bomb, Transport Minister Gunes said.

Gunes said the hijackers, identified as Mehmet Resat Ozlu, of Turkey, and Mommen Abdul Aziz Talikh, told an official they "apologized to the Turkish nation" for seizing the plane.

The passengers, who had been kept at Antalya airport, later were flown to Istanbul on another Atlasjet plane, the private news agency Dogan reported.

Earlier, Turkish Cypriot authorities said the men were Iranians protesting U.S. policies, and some passengers also said the hijackers claimed al Qaeda ties. There was no confirmation of the claims.

The seizure was the latest in a string of hijackings of Turkish airplanes in recent years, despite increased security measures at airports.

The plane had left Ercan airport in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus at 6:45 a.m. (0345GMT).

The hijackers charged the cockpit shortly after takeoff and tried to break down the door but failed, passenger Erhan Erkul told NTV television.

"They claimed to have bombs," Erkul said.

A woman, who was not identified, told NTV that the hijackers allowed the crew to serve water to the passengers and promised not to harm them.

"We are Muslims," passengers quoted one of the hijackers as saying.

The pilots managed to land the plane an airport in coastal Antalya, 340 miles from Ankara, by saying they need to refuel, authorities said. A 20-member anti-terror team was dispatched to Antalya from Ankara, CNN-Turk television reported.

The pilots then left the aircraft to prevent the hijackers from forcing them to fly the plane, said Aydin Kiziltan, chief executive of Worldfocus, the company that owns the plane and had leased it to Atlasjet.

The hijackers let the crew open one of the doors to let in fresh air after the pilots switched off the air conditioning before leaving the plane — a routine precaution against possible explosions, officials said. Some passengers fainted.

The hijackers let the women and children go but ordered the men to sit down, a passenger said, according to news reports. But some of the men also fled, breaking the rear exit door to get out, passengers said.

As authorities tried to persuade the pair to surrender, a team of technicians boarded the aircraft saying they would fix the rear exit, authorities said. Several hours later, the hijackers surrendered without incident, Gunes said.

Cyprus blamed the hijacking on poor security at Ercan airport in the Turkish-controlled part of the island. The Foreign Ministry said the airport did "not fulfill international security and civil aviation rules."

However, Salih Usar, who serves as transport minister for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, said security measures at Ercan were in line with international standards.

"If the hijackers had attempted to slip any explosives into the airport, the security forces would have detected that," he said.