Saudis in talks with hijackers - about 40 hostages free

Saudi security officials encircled the plane after the hijackers stopped releasing passengers, according to a Russian embassy source in Riyadh who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Qatari satellite television Al Jazira reported that the hijackers requested the resumption of negotiations with the Saudi authorities after several hours of interruption.

The Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev-154, with 162 passengers and 12 crew, landed near the Islamic holy city of Medina early Thursday evening. Two to four hijackers - reported to be from the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya, carrying knives and explosives - took over the Moscow-bound plane about 30 minutes after takeoff from Istanbul.

The passengers included 59 Turkish nationals, and most of the rest were Russians, officials said. There was one baby on board. It was not clear how many were released. Reports put the number at between 35 and 45. Ali al-Khalaf, chairman of Saudi Civil Aviation, said the kidnappers freed 20 elderly, women and children. Another 15 passengers "succeeded in slipping out of the plane through the rear exits of the plane," the official Saudi Press Agency said.

An official at the Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Medina however said the number released had reached 45, SPA later reported. "Negotiations are still going on with the hijackers to end the hijacking by peaceful means to guarantee that no harm befalls any of the passengers," the airport official was quoted as saying.

Among those freed was a cabin crew member badly injured in a dramatic scuffle in the air, when the plane dropped some 400 metres before the pilot regained control, reports said. Upon release, the crew member was told to return with drinking water, or the hijackers would start killing passengers.

After landing, the pilot had reportedly locked himself inside the cockpit, complicating communications between security officials and the hijackers, who officials said spoke no English or Arabic. Earlier Thursday evening, Russia's RTR television, quoting "special sources", reported the hijackers wanted to fly on to Afghanistan, ruled by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban militia.

According to Russian reports, the hijackers were demanding an immediate end to the Russian military campaign in Chechnya. Russian President Vladimir Putin, on a skiing holiday in Siberia, appointed the deputy chief of the FSB domestic intelligence agency, Vladimir Pronichev, to head a crisis staff on the hijacking.

Interfax news agency said the Russians had formed a special force in case it was decided to storm the hijacked plane, but Islamic experts said Saudi Arabia would likely reject a non-Moslem commando team into the holy city of Medina.

(la/dpa)