'Al-Qaida' hijacks Cyprus plane

Hijackers claiming to have bombs and to be members of al-Qaida today hijacked a Turkish passenger plane heading from northern Cyprus to Istanbul.

The hijackers had asked that the plane be diverted to Iran or Syria, but the pilots landed the plane at Antalya airport, near the Mediterranean coast, chief executive of the private Atlas-Jet airline company Tuncay Doganer said.