Russian Plane Hijacked, Flown to Saudi Arabia

At least two men armed with knives who claimed to be Chechen rebels hijacked a Russian passenger jet Thursday shortly after it took off from the Turkish city of Istanbul and forced it to land in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where negotiations with the men continued early today.

Airline officials said 174 people were aboard the Moscow-bound flight--162 passengers and 12 crew.

The hijackers’ identities and goals were not immediately clear. Turkish officials said the men threatened to detonate a bomb unless the plane flew to an Arab country. Russian news reports said the hijackers were demanding to be flown to Afghanistan, whose Taliban regime is the only government to recognize Chechnya as an independent state.

Saudi security forces surrounded the plane in Medina and were negotiating with the hijackers using hand-held radios.

Saudi state television reported that 45 hostages had left the aircraft by early today. Some, including all of the women and children, were released by the hijackers; others reportedly escaped through a rear hatch. Five were hospitalized, including one passenger reportedly stabbed when he tried to confront the attackers.

In Moscow, airline officials said a total of 46 people had been released, including three crew members. Of those freed, 26 were Russian citizens, officials said.

Alexander Klimov, director of Vnukovo Airlines, which operated the flight between Istanbul and Moscow, said that brief contact was made with the plane after the hijacking began and that the hijackers were demanding an end to Russia’s war against separatists in the Chechen republic.

“We have no information about the hijackers’ nationality, but we know that one of their demands is termination of war in Chechnya,” Klimov said here.

Some Russian news reports suggested there may be three or more hijackers on board. The reports could not be immediately confirmed.

In Jordan, a woman who identified herself as a representative of the Chechen rebels told Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency that there were three hijackers, led by former Chechen Interior Minister Aslambek Arsayev. The other two are Arsayev’s brother and nephew, said Fariza Atfayeva, the wife of a former Chechen minister.

The hijacking “was staged ‘to attract the attention of the world public to the developments in the Caucasus,” ITAR-Tass quoted her as saying. Arsayev had been in Turkey receiving medical care, she said.

Two Arsayevs were listed among the passengers, airline officials said.

Most of the passengers were so-called shuttle traders who buy goods in Turkey and resell them at a profit in Russia, according to Russian news reports. Judging by the names on the passenger list, airline officials said, 98 of the passengers appeared to be Russian and most of the rest appeared to be Turkish.

The airliner, a Tu-154 passenger jet packed to capacity, took off from Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport at 1:57 p.m., according to airline officials. About 20 minutes into the flight, the hijackers reportedly forced their way into the cockpit, stabbing a man who tried to stop them. Russian news reports said the man was seriously wounded.

During the fight, the plane plunged 1,300 feet before recovering, Turkish Transport Minister Enis Oksuz said. It then reversed course and flew south, but was denied the right to land in Syria and Egypt. It landed about 6:30 p.m. in Medina, where the annual Muslim pilgrimage known as the hajj is underway. Members of the flight crew then reportedly locked themselves in the cockpit.

Anxious relatives of those on board gathered at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, where the flight had been scheduled to land at 5:10 p.m.

“The main issue now is the issue of the safety of passengers and ascertainment of the facts concerning their health condition,” said Elvarbik Fizelyanov, Russia’s consul general in Jidda, Saudi Arabia.

In Moscow, Russian officials mustered an anti-terrorist commando unit and other specialists and requested permission to send them to assist the Saudis with a possible rescue effort. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, on a brief vacation in the Siberian region of Khakassia, was said to be following the situation closely.

There is a large Chechen diaspora in Turkey, and the Russian government has complained that Chechen rebels were receiving arms and other support through Turkey. However, last month, Russia and Turkey signed a protocol under which they pledged to work together to end terrorism.

Chechnya, on Russia’s southern border, declared independence in 1991. Since then, Russia has launched two military campaigns against the separatists--a 1994-96 war that ended in de facto independence for the region, and an ongoing operation that began 18 months ago.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.