Man held after Sudan plane hijacking

A Sudanese man with a knife hijacked a Sudan Airways plane and forced it to land at Khartoum airport this morning but was later…

A Sudanese man with a knife hijacked a Sudan Airways plane and forced it to land at Khartoum airport this morning but was later arrested, a civil aviation official said.

"The hijacker burst into the pilot's cabin about one and a half hours from landing and told the captain he wanted to meet with the British ambassador, then he asked to meet the American ambassador and the media," according to the official.

"Snipers dressed as journalists then took him into custody," he added. The plane, which was carrying 210 passengers, began its journey in Tripoli, Libya.

An apparent motive for the hijacking was not immediately available.

In January, a young man demanding an end to the conflict in Darfur hijacked a Sudanese plane and tried to force it to fly to Europe, but it diverted to Chad where he was arrested and the passengers released unharmed.

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