Afghanistan's Taliban militia has begun questioning airport workers about the hijacking of the Afghan Ariana jet which took off from Kabul on Sunday with more than 150 hostages aboard, a senior Interior Ministry official said yesterday.
"Some people have been asked just simple questions," the official said.
He said those questioned were airport workers but insisted no arrests had been made.
"And we have arrested no women," he said.
Another senior official from the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban called on the British government to capture and punish the hijackers, who forced the jet to fly to Stansted Airport in London, where they are negotiating with British police.
"The terrorists should be captured and punished according to international laws," said the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
Mr Faiz admitted the hijackers may have been able to smuggle weapons on board the aircraft before it took off on what should have been a brief domestic flight.
The head of Afghanistan's Ariana airline said yesterday that the hijacking of the Boeing 727 airliner could be an attempt to seek asylum involving some of the 150 passengers now on board.
Mullah Hamidullah told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency that there appeared to be a large group on the aircraft of up to 40 men, women and children who could be involved in an asylum attempt. It was thought to be the first time that an Afghan official had ventured a motive for the hijacking of the aircraft.
"It seems to us now that there is a big group including about 40 women, men and children on board, who were travelling to Mazar-i-Sharif pretending to attend a wedding there, and they are linked with this hijacking," he said.
The Ariana president spoke after the return to Kabul of a steward freed by the eight hijackers at the plane's first stop at Tashkent on Sunday when his mother, who was a passenger, fell ill.
The steward, called Najibullah, told the Ariana official that there were eight hijackers armed with pistols and knives and that they beat and tied up the pilots at one stage of the drama.
Afghan officials said that several people, including women airport workers, have been held for questioning over the hijack.
The Taliban suspects women passengers may have been involved in smuggling weapons on board because they are subject to less stringent security at Kabul Airport, where such checks are largely carried out by men, the officials said.
The hijackers' weapons might have eluded detection in security searches if they were carried under the women's all-enveloping burqa veil, which is mandatory in the Taliban's Islamic society.
Under the movement's ultra-orthodox brand of Islam, only male relatives may accompany women outside the home, and women have little contact with strangers.
The custom has complicated contact between women and Afghan officials, including male doctors who are not allowed to treat women in hospitals, and may have affected searches at Kabul Airport.
Travellers on Ariana said that security searches at Kabul Airport were routine. Afghanistan has no history of hijacking, and most searches are concentrated on the luggage of incoming passengers who might be carrying un-Islamic material.
The airport, which has been repainted and overhauled but is still a shell, has no metal detectors or X-ray machines and is dependent on people for security checks.
The identity of the hijackers is a mystery. The Taliban has accused its last major foe, the opposition leader, Mr Ahmad Shah Masood, of involvement, but his spokesmen have denied this.