This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/7583659.stm

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Hijacked plane arrives in Libya Sudan hijackers 'free' passengers
(40 minutes later)
A Sudanese airliner hijacked shortly after take-off from the South Darfur capital Nyala has landed in Libya. The hijackers of a Sudanese plane flown to Libya have started to free some of the women and children on board, Libyan officials say.
The plane was on its way to Khartoum, but has landed in the remote town of Kufra near the Libya-Sudan border. The Sun Air Boeing 737 was carrying some 95 passengers when it was seized shortly after taking off from the Darfur town of Nyala.
The hijackers have asked for fuel to fly the plane, belonging to Sudanese airline Sun Air and with 95 people on board, to France. The pilot had said that some passengers had fainted after the air-conditioning failed in Libya's desert town of Kufra.
Three members of a former Darfur rebel group are on the plane but they have denied taking part in the hijack. He said the hijackers were Darfur rebels but this has been denied.
A Sudanese security official said a man with a knife had hijacked the plane, the Associated Press news agency reported. The plane was on its way to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, when a man with a knife hijacked it, a Sudanese security official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
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. The hijackers have asked for fuel to fly the plane to France.
The plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land.The plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land.
Rebel denial
The three former rebels allegedly on board were originally 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.
However, a spokesman for Minni Minnawi said his three associates had not taken part in the hijacking.
The AFP news agency then reported that the hijackers were members of a hard-line rebel group whose leader lives in France.
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.
The desert oasis of Kufra is in a remote region approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles) south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.The desert oasis of Kufra is in a remote region approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles) south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
It is an area close to both the Sudanese and Chadian borders, and is often used as a corridor for humanitarian aid for displaced Darfuri refugees in Chad, as well as a transit point into the country by illegal immigrants, says the BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli.It is an area close to both the Sudanese and Chadian borders, and is often used as a corridor for humanitarian aid for displaced Darfuri refugees in Chad, as well as a transit point into the country by illegal immigrants, says the BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli.