Islamabad, Sept. 17 (PTI): Al Qaeda operatives were behind the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane in 1999 which culminated in the release of Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Maulana Masood Azhar and two other militants, a former bodyguard of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden has claimed.
In a documentary aired on Al Jazeera TV yesterday, the world's most-wanted man's bodyguard recalled that bin Laden welcomed Azhar after his release from an Indian jail preceding the hijacking of the plane and threw a lavish party in his honour, Pakistan's Online newsagency reported.
Abu Jandal said on the day the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 was hijacked, he was told to ready his stinger missiles, and emergency was declared at the Kandahar Airport within 30 minutes. "I was told that other planes will also follow this one and there is a chance that the situation could deteriorate," he said.
He said after two or three days, bin Laden invited Azhar to a lavish party thrown in his honour where I was introduced to him. "I was astonished to discover that Azhar and bin Laden already knew each other".
The Indian Airlines plane carrying 178 passengers was hijacked and taken to Kandahar. Besides Azhar, two other militants Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh were released. Jandal also said that bin Laden's original plan to target the USS Cole in international waters failed to work in 1998 and instead Al-Qaeda hit the warship while it was in Yemen waters by mistake, which he said was against the policy of Al Qaeda.