Hijacked plane arrives in Sudan

The lone hijacker, armed with a knife, is thought to be have been arrested by Sudanese special forces.

Civil aviation authority official Abdel Hafiz Abdel-Rahim said: "The hijacker burst into the pilot's cabin about one and half hours from landing."

The Sudan Airways plane, carrying 210 passengers, landed at Khartoum airport early on Friday.

Mr Abdel-Rahim told Reuters news agency that the hijacker had told the captain he wanted to meet the British and US ambassadors, as well as the media.

"Snipers dressed as journalists then took him into custody," he said.

No apparent motive for the hijacking has yet been identified.

In January a 24-year-old man armed with knives and a pistol hijacked a Sudanese plane and tried to force it to fly to Europe.

Mahamat Abdelatif Mahamat demanded an end to the conflict in Darfur.

The plane was diverted to Chad, where he was arrested and the passengers released unharmed.