3 Die as Saudi Raid Ends Hijacking

Saudi commandos burst through the doors and windows of a hijacked Russian jetliner Friday as it sat on the runway in the city of Medina, freeing more than 100 passengers in a dramatic assault that left three dead: a passenger, flight attendant and teenage terrorist.

The two surviving hijackers were dragged from the plane, wrestled to the ground and handcuffed as frightened passengers stampeded down the stairs or climbed out onto the wing, their hands raised over their heads.

Officials in the Saudi holy city said they shot to death one of the terrorists after he stabbed and killed female flight attendant Yulia Fomina, 27, of Moscow. The dead passenger--apparently hit by gunfire--was identified by Turkey’s Anatolian news service as Gursel Kambal, a 27-year-old Turkish construction worker whose wife is five months pregnant.

“The goal of the storming operation was to save the lives of the passengers and the crew with the least number of casualties possible, and it concluded in record time after the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane,” the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement.

But the Saudis’ decision to storm the plane was not universally applauded. In Russia, and among some passengers, the bloody outcome sparked anger and frustration.

“The unprofessional actions of the [Saudi Arabian] secret services during the storming operation resulted in the death of one of our flight attendants,” Yuri M. Sytnik, the aviation director of Vnukovo Airlines, said in an interview on Russian television.

“The terrorists were children, simply children,” said Yulia, a 24-year-old student from Istanbul, Turkey, interviewed by telephone after the rescue. Like several other passengers on the Moscow-bound flight, she asked that her family name not be revealed.

“They were absolutely human, normal people,” she said. “Ninety percent of the passengers do not bear them malice. We feel sorry for them.”

The ordeal began Thursday shortly after the Tu-154 passenger jet departed from Istanbul with 162 passengers and 12 crew members. Three men armed with knives took control of the plane, saying they were trying to draw attention to Russia’s military operation against the rebellious republic of Chechnya, where troops have been battling separatists since 1999.

Yulia said everyone knew something had gone wrong just after takeoff. “We knew because they made circles around Turkey,” she recalled by phone from the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Medina. “Then the flight attendant said we were flying to Saudi Arabia. It looked like a bad joke.”

At first, the hijackers asked to land in Egypt, then settled on Saudi Arabia--an apparent miscalculation given the Saudis’ adherence to sometimes harsh Islamic law and demonstrated willingness to respond aggressively to crime.

After arriving in Medina, the hijackers allowed most of the women and children to leave the plane and asked that the jet be refueled for a flight to Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban recognizes the efforts of Chechen rebels to achieve independence from Russia.

For the next 18 hours, the jetliner sat baking in the desert heat, a red-, green- and white-striped Chechen flag draped over the open door. Inside, passengers fell into a near stupor as the cabin filled with cigarette smoke and perspiration. One passenger told a Russian television station that about 15 passengers in the back of the jet managed to pry open a rear door and jump before the hijackers locked it again.

Throughout the standoff, the three terrorists stood guard, armed with their knives and an emergency ax found on the plane. But they also chatted in Russian with the passengers, assuring them that they meant no harm and that they only wanted freedom for Chechnya.

“I sat next to them,” Marina, 22, a native of Kazakhstan, said by telephone from the hotel. “They said they want to be free. ‘We want freedom. All we want is Russia to leave Chechnya.’ ”

Negotiations between Saudi officials and the hijackers went nowhere, and passengers said the end came swiftly. First the sound of smashing glass filled the cabin. Heavily armed commandos had propped ladders against the body of the jet and smashed in windows. Then screams--not from the passengers but from the panicked terrorists.

“As soon as the operation began, these terrorists threatened to blow a bomb. They went nuts,” Marina said. No one reported seeing a bomb on board.

The names of the hijackers were not confirmed Friday by Russian or Saudi authorities. But Fariza Aftayeva, the Chechen representative in Jordan, told the Associated Press that the suspects included Aslambek Arsayev, the former Chechen security minister, and his brother, Supyan. She said the information came from a third brother, Adam, who was not among the suspects.

In Moscow, officials said the dead terrorist was a teenager, though no name was provided. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said his government would send a plane today to bring passengers to Moscow.

Russian officials also said they wanted the surviving hijacking suspects extradited for trial, though no such treaty exists between the two countries.

Marina and Yulia were milling around the hotel lobby late Friday night, saying they were unable to sleep because of the violence they had witnessed. Both said they were shaken by the Saudi government’s response and questioned the official account of events, including how the flight attendant was killed.

Marina said she had a clear view as the police stormed the plane and opened fire. As she dived to the ground, she said, she saw the young hijacker and the flight attendant crumple at the same time.

But others were not inclined to second-guess the commando raid.

“It was a correct decision--the passengers were at the mercy of the hijackers,” Mohammed Samman, a prominent political analyst, said in an interview Friday night on the Arab News Network. “Under that pressure it was the responsibility of Saudi forces to go in and to protect the passengers.”

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Alexei V. Kuznetsov of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.