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Print VersionTurkey charges alleged hijackers with membership in armed terror group
24/08/2007
ANKARA, Turkey -- A court in Antalya late on Thursday (August 23rd) charged the two men who allegedly tried to commandeer a passenger plane with 140 people onboard last week with "hijacking a plane, membership in an armed terror group and threatening people's freedom". The pair, a Palestinian with an Egyptian passport and a Turkish national, will remain in custody while awaiting trial. During questioning Tuesday, officials say they admitted they planned the hijacking for five days. One allegedly said they demanded to be flown to Tehran because he was sure that "organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah would help us in the aftermath. I was targeting to head to the jihad area in Afghanistan".
In other news Thursday, Turkish authorities arrested seven members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who were allegedly planning attacks on buses in Istanbul. Police say they found weapons and ammunition in their homes, as well as posters of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. (AFP, Reuters, Radikal, NTV, The New Anatolian, Anadolu, Sabah - 23/08/07)
