Sudan Says Airliner Hijacked in Southern Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A man waving a knife hijacked a jetliner carrying about 100 people Tuesday in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, forcing it to land at a World War II-era airfield in the heart of the Sahara Desert in neighboring Libya, officials said.
 
The Boeing 737 was commandeered soon after taking off from Nyala, capital of southern Darfur, en route to Khartoum, the national capital, said Yusuf Ibrahim, director of Khartoum's airport. He said it was not clear whether one or several hijackers were involved.

Libyan aviation officials confirmed the plane landed in Kufra, a desert oasis in that country's arid southeast close to the Sudanese and Egyptian borders.

Authorities were said to be traveling to Kufra, some 1,000 miles from Libya's capital of Tripoli. The airfield has little, if any, communications equipment, and Libyan officials said they had been unable to contact the hijackers since the plane landed.

The only contact was earlier from the pilot, who radioed a mayday signal to Tripoli requesting permission to land and refuel, said a Libyan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. By midnight, the plane had not refueled and it was unclear whether the Libyans would allow it to do so.

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