Hijackers Free 87 Hostages in Libya

Continue to hold crew after commandeering jetliner in Sudan
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 27, 2008 7:29 AM CDT
Hijackers Free 87 Hostages in Libya
In this image from Libyan television passengers get off a bus shortly after being released from the hijacked Sudanese airliner in Libya's Sahara desert oasis of Kufra Wednesday Aug. 27, 2008.    ((AP Photo/Libyan TV via APTN))

Hijackers began releasing the 87 passengers today at a remote desert airfield in southern Libya, reports the AP, a day after they took control of a Sudanese 737 jetliner as it took off from Darfur. The hijackers continued to hold eight crewmembers. Sudan officials called the hijacking an "irresponsible terrorist act" and called for the hijackers to be extradited.

An official at the Libyan airport where the plane landed said he spoke to one of the hijackers, who demanded maps to fly to Paris and fuel for the plane. Asked if French authorities could accept the hijackers in France, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Europe-1 radio he could not "say anything now. But we are considering everything so that the 100 passengers are protected."
(More Sudan stories.)

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