Algeria Admits Security Lapse in Hijacking

Algeria promised to fix a security lapse that allowed four hijackers to take control of an Air France jetliner, but wary foreign firms were not taking any chances Thursday.

The crew of a French tanker refused to enter an Algerian port, French passenger transport links have been cut, a Spanish airline has canceled flights, and insurers in London were considering putting Algeria on a war-risk list.

Four Muslim militants, wearing the uniforms of airport workers, penetrated the Algiers airport on Christmas Eve, skirting security measures in place since nine people were killed in a 1992 bomb attack.

The airport limits access to people with tickets, police check passengers with metal detectors, and baggage is scanned and searched.

But somewhere, government spokesman Ahmed Attaf acknowledged, the process broke down.

“There were lapses and failures in the exercise of responsibilities,” Attaf was quoted as saying in Algerian newspapers. He did not elaborate.

The hijackers executed three passengers before flying to Marseilles, where commandos stormed the jet Monday, killing all four hijackers and freeing the remaining 170 hostages.

The hijacking was claimed by the Armed Islamic Group, which is also blamed for the deaths of many of the 75 foreigners slain since September, 1993.

It was the third hijacking this year from the Algiers airport. The others ended peacefully when the hijackers surrendered in Spain.

Muslim extremists have been fighting to install Islamic rule since elections that fundamentalists were sure to win were canceled in January, 1992.