Sudan plane 'hijacked' in Darfur

Source:BBC

A Sudanese airliner has been hijacked shortly after take-off from Nyala, in Darfur region, Sudanese civil aviation officials have said.

The plane was on its way to Khartoum, but has landed in Libya, after first trying to land in Cairo, reports say.

Aviation officials in Khartoum told the BBC the plane belonged to Sudanese airline Sun Air and there were 95 people on board.

The officials said members of a former Darfur rebel group were on the plane.

A Sudanese security official said a man with a knife had hijacked the plane, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Aviation officials said the plane, a Boeing 737, had landed at the Libyan oasis town of Kufra, in the desert near the border with Sudan.

Rebel denial

The three former rebels allegedly on board were said to be senior members of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Arkou Minnawi.

His group was the only one to sign a peace deal with the Khartoum government in 2006.

A spokesman for Minni Minnawi said his three associates had not taken part in the hijacking.

A five-year conflict in Darfur has left about 200,000 people dead and more than two million homeless.

Sudanese civil aviation officials told the BBC's Amber Henshaw in Khartoum that the plane had landed in Libya.