Hijackers Free 64, Set New Deadline : Israel May Release 700 Shias; Up to 9 U.S. Men Feared Spirited Off in Beirut

Arab hijackers who seized a TWA jet and killed one man in an ongoing ordeal flew back to Algiers on Saturday and freed another 64 people, keeping aboard three crew members and as many as 46 other American men, officials said.

The sky pirates also set a new deadline for meeting their principal demand, the release of Arab prisoners held by Israel.

“If Sunday at 10 a.m. (2 a.m. PDT) our Arab brothers jailed in Israel are not liberated, we will leave Algiers for an unknown destination, and a price will be paid by Israel,” the hijackers said in statement carried by the official Algerian news agency APS. No other details were given.

Israeli Release Pending

Israel radio reported that Israel was about to free about 700 Shia Muslim prisoners “on its own initiative in the near future” as an extension of a regular release program already in place. In Washington, the State Department would not confirm or deny the report.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin consulted U.S. Embassy officials regarding the hijacking, Israel radio said. “Evaluations and various possibilities regarding the affair were discussed,” it reported.

Meanwhile, CBS News reported that eight or nine male passengers with Jewish surnames were spirited off the plane by the hijackers Friday night in Beirut, during one of the stops the airliner made there. CBS quoted an unidentified State Department official as saying: “Well, it looks bad, that in fact eight or nine American males with Jewish sounding names were yanked off that plane the second time around in Beirut.”

Kathy Fiedler, a spokeswoman for the State Department task force monitoring the hijacking, said that “we don’t know for sure” whether anyone was removed from the plane and taken away. “The passengers and crew--some people--have indicated that” six to eight people were removed, she said.

Fiedler said the department did not have an exact count of the number of passengers remaining on the plane and so could not determine how many might be missing.

Based on a passenger list and the number of hostages released, TWA’s estimate was that 46 passengers and three crew members--all American men--remained on board. That, however, did not take into account the reports of the people allegedly removed in Beirut.

The Algerian news agency quoted government officials as saying 38 American hostages remained aboard the Boeing 727.

The hijackers said in a communique reiterating their demands carried by the Algerian news agency that they still held “about 40” captives.

Hijacker’s Pledge

The hijackers, believed to be Lebanese Shia Muslims, also pledged to free 10 more passengers if Cyprus turns over to Syrian authorities a prisoner they identified as Araf Erria. Officials in Nicosia, Cyprus, though, said Erria had been released from prison two weeks ago.

The hijackers told the Algiers control tower, “We are ready to die if our demands are not met.”

The two original hijackers, who apparently were joined by a number of others during a stop in Beirut, also demanded that the United States admit complicity in a March 8 bombing in the Lebanese capital that killed 85 people.

ABC News reported the hijackers also demanded a ransom of $12 million to $15 million, but TWA could not confirm that a ransom was part of the demands.

Michael H. Newlin, U.S. ambassador to Algeria, told reporters at the airport, “The whole matter is in the hands of the Algerians, who have already obtained 21 liberations yesterday (Friday), 3 this morning and about 50 this afternoon (Saturday).” He said he was in continuous contact with the Algerians.

Twelve to 15 heavily armed hijackers were still holding as many as 46 passengers and three crew members--the pilot, first officer and flight engineer--aboard the airliner on a runway at the Algiers airport, a TWA spokeswoman said in New York.

The hijackers Saturday released 51 passengers and flight attendants--most of them women and children--who were aboard Trans World Airlines Flight 847, hijacked Friday on a flight from Athens to Rome. A few hours later, 10 more men were released, witnesses said.

The release of those hostages followed the intervention of two Algerian officials who boarded the aircraft about 90 minutes after it arrived in Algiers for the second time early Saturday.

Three More Released

And early this morning, three more hostages, all in their 60s, were freed after a six-member Red Cross team boarded the plane and talked to the hijackers at the request of Algeria and the United States.

The three latest to be released were identified as Edmond Liebst of Lake in the Hills, Ill.; Father P. William McDonnell of Algonquin, Ill., and Jose Delgado of Escondido, Calif. They were driven to American Embassy following their release.

During the hijacking odyssey, President Reagan was kept informed of developments at Camp David, Md. He sent personal pleas to some Middle East leaders asking for help, White House officials said.

The Algerian news agency said one group of hostages was handed over in front of the VIP lounge at Algiers airport in exchange for the hijackers’ accomplice, Ali Atweh, 21, who was left behind and arrested at the Athens airport Friday. Atweh told Greek police he was supposed to help hijack the plane but could not board the plane because there were not enough seats.

In Athens, a government spokesmen said Atweh was exchanged for the eight Greek passengers aboard the plane, including pop singer Demis Roussos.

Conflict Over Numbers

The plane started out with 145 passengers and eight crew. The hijackers released 18 hostages in Beirut and 21 others in Algiers. One male passenger was slain in Beirut. With the release of the 64 hostages the second time in Algiers, TWA’s count put 49 people still on board.

There were, however, conflicting reports about the number of hijackers, as well as the number of remaining hostages.

David Venz, a TWA spokesman in New York, said there were more than 12 hijackers on the jetliner. Ambassador Newlin said he thought there were four. Earlier, it was believed there were only two, however others are believed to have boarded the plane in Beirut.

One of the passengers freed in Algiers, Christine Cooke, from Boston, said that on the second stop in Beirut, “about six more guys (hijackers) ran onto the plane. They were heavily armed.”

Male Passenger Killed

Before the flight left Beirut for Algiers for a second time, the hijackers killed a male passenger and dumped his body onto the Tarmac, apparently to convince the control tower they were serious about their demands, which included refueling the plane.

The pilot told the control tower: “He just killed a passenger. He just killed a passenger,” and a body was then thrown from the plane.

The hijackers said the victim was a U.S. Marine, but the Marine Corps said it did not know of any of its men being aboard and American officials could not confirm or deny the claim. “We haven’t got the body yet. We don’t know,” said a State Department official, who asked not to be identified.

Two Shia Amal militiamen said they took the body, shot threw the left temple, to the morgue at the American University Hospital in Beirut.

In Beirut, the Christian Voice of Lebanon radio station said the victim was 25 and his last name was Brown. However, hospital sources said there were no identifying papers on the body.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday, freed passengers began deplaning onto several airport buses and were taken to the airport terminal, Venz said.

A chartered Air France jet carrying 16 of the former hostages--14 Americans, one Sudanese and one Greek--arrived Saturday in Paris, authorities at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport said. They were to spend the night in a Paris hotel.

Another 19 passengers released Friday in Beirut flew to Cyprus and were also put on a Paris-bound plane Saturday.

Islamic Jihad Denial

A statement attributed to the pro-Iranian terrorist group Islamic Jihad was issued Saturday in Beirut newspapers, denying that the hijackers are members of the group. “We have no relations with the operation and warn everyone against using our name,” said the statement.

Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on April 18, 1983, and the suicide bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October, 1983.