Most passengers released from hijacked Libyan plane in Malta
Source: France24
A standoff is under way at the Maltese International Airport where a hijacked plane from Libya landed Friday with 118 people on board. Most of the passengers have been released, according to Malta's prime minister.
Hours after a hijacked Afriqiyah Airways plane landed in the tiny Mediterranean island nation, a first group of 25 passengers, including women and children, were released, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter.
A rapid evacuation of passengers, as well as some crew members, followed, according to Muscat. In a subsequent Twitter post, the Maltese prime minister said, “Potentially 2 hijackers and some crew members” were still on board the aircraft.
Western powers have pinned their hopes of containing jihadism in the energy-rich North African state on the government, but it has failed to establish its authority over all of the country. A rival authority rules the country's far east, backed by the forces under military strongman Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who have been battling jihadists in second city Benghazi
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20161223-malta-libya-plane-hijack
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