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Sudanese plane hijacked in Darfur | |
(40 minutes later) | |
A Sudanese plane 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. | 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 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. | 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. | |
Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera said the plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land. | Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera said the plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land. |