Posted on 02/16/2007 2:14:45 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
Mauritania plane passengers beat up hijacker
By Ben Harding
Fri Feb 16, 10:26 AM ET
MADRID (Reuters) - Passengers on a hijacked Air Mauritania plane ended the ordeal when they stormed the cockpit and beat up the lone gunman after the aircraft landed in Spain's Canary Islands on Thursday night, Spanish police said.
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As armed police surrounded the Boeing 737 on the runway, five passengers and the co-pilot burst into the cockpit and knocked the hijacker to the ground before beating him up, a police spokesman said.
"When we landed at Las Palmas ... we entered (the cockpit) and hit him and knocked him down," one passenger told television station CNN+.
The fight gave the crew time to let in security forces, who swiftly arrested the man, the police spokesman said.
Spanish police could not corroborate reports from a Mauritanian source on Thursday who said the pilot had deliberately braked hard on landing, knocking the hijacker off his feet and that he had then been jumped on by passengers.
The source also said the hijacker had fired two bullets during the scuffle, but that no-one had been seriously injured.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish emergency services said late on Thursday that 20 people had suffered cuts and bruises, but that she knew of nobody being injured by gunfire.
Passengers said they had been terrified when they realized their internal flight from the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott to the port of Nouadhibou had been seized.
Passenger Jose Manuel told newspaper ABC that fellow travelers, mostly Spaniards, had donned life jackets, thinking the plane was going to crash.
"The plane has been hijacked! You should follow instructions. We are going to Dakhla (In Western Sahara)," the hijacker announced from the cockpit soon after taking control, newspaper El Mundo reported passenger Mohamed Ahmed as saying.
The hijacker, who police said was a 32-year-old Mauritanian man, ordered passengers to the back of the plane and held a gun to the pilot's head but one passenger managed to alert Spanish emergency services by mobile phone, media reported.
The man had demanded the plane fly to Paris, but the pilot told him the plane had to be refueled first. Moroccan authorities refused to let it land in Western Sahara so the 71 passengers and eight crew flew on to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria.
Police have not revealed the hijacker's motive but Spanish media have reported he was seeking political asylum in France.
The hijacking came on same day that Spain began the trial of 29 people, mostly Moroccans, for the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people, and days after al Qaeda called for attacks on Mauritania's rulers.
The entire world, even Third World citizens of Africa, have learned the lesson of 9/11.
Except, of course, for US democrats.
Cool
The entire world, even Third World citizens of Africa, except for certain sections of Washington, D.C. have learned the lesson of 9/11.
Good. After 9/11, fighting back is the only option.
She, much to her chagrin, is a 9/11 conservative.
It's nice to see people reacting properly to the hijacking threat. All of the "security" in the world won't bring us safety. We just need the attitude that we will attack and defeat anyone who threatens us.
I hope they beat him like a drum.
Unreal, this version of the article does not mention his name. Why? It is known. "32-year-old Mauritanian man". Go back to sleep.
If I were there, I would have kicked the living crap out of him personally. I'd probably have wound up being arrested myself....
As I understand it, the pilot said "let's roll" in French.
lesez le bon temps roule!
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