In Africa, Podnan Passenger Boeing 737 Mauritan Airlines

In the northwestern part of Africa, on Thursday, the Boeing 737 Air Mauritania (Air Mauritania) with dozens of passengers on board was stolen, Reuters reports with reference to the Mauritan Police.

The plane, which performed an internal flight from the capital of the United Naakhot to the airport of the city of Noadib in the north of Mauritania, made an intermediate landing in the city of Dahl in Western Sahara for refueling - the hijackers wanted to fly to France. Soon, according to Reuters, AP and AFP, he flew out and headed for the Canary Islands (Spain), where, according to the Skynews report, he landed at the military airfield near the city of Las Palmos (Grand Canarius Island), after which the police special forces made a liner capture.

Later, this information was called into question by officials: shortly after the release of hostages, the Spanish police said that the “Moroccan authorities refused the plane to land in the city of Dahl,” representatives of Dahla Airport said the same, noting that the oppressed liner did not sit at the airport.

Air Mauritania, General Director of Air Mauritania, Mohammed Uld El-Koktar said that the invaders demanded from pilots to fly to France, but the crew's members refused, citing a lack of fuel. After that, the plane flew in the direction of Las Palmos. The regional media, according to Newsru Israel , informed that the hijacker also demanded landing in Morocco, but the local authorities refused him. The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Morocco said that information about the capture of the aircraft did not receive them.

According to BBC , the invader was one, and he surrendered to the Spanish authorities, not resisting. Western news agencies reported a shootout on board. According to some reports, several passengers received firearms in the captured liner, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to the airport life services in Las Palmas.

Reuters, referring to the same operational services, confirms this information, noting that ambulances were sent to the airport. According to the BBC correspondent in Madrid, it was confirmed that at least one passenger received a gunshot wound.

At the same time, a representative of the Spanish government on the Canary Islands on the air of the local radio station RNE said that he could not confirm information about the shootout. The Spanish media report that neither the crew nor passengers were injured with the exception of one woman who had a nervous breakdown.

In turn, the official representative of the Spanish emergency services said that as a result of the incident, 20 people received minor cuts and bruises, but she does not know anything about firearms on board, which was previously reported by a source in its department.

The head of the Air Mauritania, Mohammed Uld El-Koktar, said that, from the words of the crew of the airliner, no one was injured, and the hijacker acted alone. “The lone hijacker was armed with two pistols, but it is doubtful whether they were real,” he said on the broadcast of Al Jazeera.

According to preliminary data, 71 passengers and 8 crew members were on board the aircraft, Skynews reports. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the hijacker is a Moroccan, whose motives are not yet clear. According to unconfirmed information, the hijacker initially demanded from the crew to fly to Paris.

Meanwhile, a source close to the environment of President Mauritania told Reuters that the flight passengers themselves tied the person who commanded theft at the time the aircraft landed. The landing was tough, and as a result, the hijacker lost his balance and fell - which the hostages used.

According to the source, the man armed with pistols during the flight demanded to fly to France. However, the crew commander, refueling Dahla, instead landing on the Spanish Canary Archipelago. “During the landing, the pilot deliberately braked too much. The man was knocked down, after which the passengers jumped on him. He managed to shoot twice, but no one received serious injuries,” the Moorish source said.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses claim that several people involved in the theft, mixed with passengers and, leaving the plane, disappeared. “There was at least one armed person on board, whose identity is unknown to us,” said Musa Hamed, head of the Mauritan State News Agency.

On Thursday, in the Spanish capital, a trial began on 29 performers of terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004 (the responsibility for which was taken by al -Qaeda), including 15 Moroccans. Special security measures have been introduced throughout the country to prevent possible acts of violence by Islamic extremists.

In the audio show, which is quoted this week, Arab mass media, the second person in Al-Qaeda Aiman ​​al-Zavakhiri calls on Muslims to attack the Moorish politicians for the fact that the country recognized Israel and supports the diplomatic media with it. “I especially call our people in Mauritania ... Take the path of jihad against the treacherous rulers who recognized Israel and betrayed the Islamic people,” Zavakhiri said.