Ankara - One of the two men involved in Saturday's hijacking of a Turkish passenger plane had links to international terrorist network al-Qaeda, Turkish media reported Monday. Quoting police officers interrogating the two men responsible for the hijacking, Turkish newspapers reported that Mommen Abdul Aziz Talikh had spent time in a Saudi Arabian prison with a man called "Ahmet" whom reportedly had been involved in the organization of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Talikh, a Palestinian who was born in Egypt and carries an Egyptian passport, and a Turkish national named as Mehmet Resat Ozlu hijacked an Atlasjet plane carrying 123 passengers on Saturday morning. The plane had taken off from Ercan Airport in northern Cyprus on a flight destined for Istanbul when the hijacking took place.
After the two demanded to be taken to Iran the pilot landed the plane in the southern Turkey city of Antalya saying he did not have enough fuel to get to Tehran.
The hijacking ended peacefully when the hijackers released all passengers and crew before surrendering. A suspected bomb the men were carrying later turned out to be children's plasticine.
Turkish media on Monday quoted police officers interrogating the two men that Talikh been working in northern Cyprus as a waiter and that he met his Turkish accomplice one year ago. Talikh told police that the two had agreed to go to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and that it was for this reason they had asked that the plane be taken to Iran, a neighbour of Afghanistan.
Police interrogation of the two men was continuing.
