Hijacked Russian airliner lands in southern Israel, hijackers identified as Chechens

JERUSALEM - Hijackers seized a Russian airliner with 58 people aboard early Sunday in a gesture of support for the Palestinian uprising and threatened to blow up the aircraft, officials said. Israel allowed it to land at a military airfield in its southern desert.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was on his way to a meeting with President Clinton in Washington, postponed his trip and was returning to Israel to deal with the crisis, said his adviser Danny Yatom.

The plane touched down in Uvda, in the remote Negev Desert near the Red Sea resort of Eilat, military officials said. Reports from Eilat said large numbers of security forces, including anti-terrorist squads, were brought to the airfield.

The aircraft was directed to a remote landing strip where it remained with its doors closed. Officials said Uvda's control tower was negotiating with the hijackers in Russian through the plane's captain, trying to clarify what their demands were.

''Apparently the hijackers are Chechens, who call their hijacking 'operation Al-Aqsa,''' Yatom said, speaking from London where Barak made a stopover. The hijackers were demanding to hold a news conference, he said.

The Palestinians call the Israeli-Arab bloodshed that broke out six weeks ago the ''Al-Aqsa uprising,'' a reference to the Al-Aqsa mosque at a Jerusalem religious shrine holy to both Judaism and Islam.

The violence, which has claimed nearly 200 lives, erupted following a controversial visit to the site by hawkish Israeli politician Ariel Sharon.

Israel initially refused the Vnukovo Airlines plane, a Tu-154, permission to land, and was especially concerned about the hijackers' initial insistence on landing at Ben-Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv, the country's main airport.

Dozens of security vehicles, including the bomb squad, arrived at Ben-Gurion in preparation for a possible landing.

The plane was accompanied over the Mediterranean by an Israeli Air Force jet and was allowed to land after the Russian pilot said he had fuel left for ''slightly more than an hour.''

The aircraft was taken over Saturday night shortly after takeoff from Makhachkala, the capital of the southern Russian region of Dagestan in the Caucasus Mountains. It was headed for Moscow, but the hijackers diverted the airplane to Baku, Azerbaijan, where it refueled before heading toward Israel. Most of those aboard were from Dagestan.

''One of the hijackers together with the bombs is in the cabin. I do not know how many of them are in the passenger cabin. They demanded to land in Baku and then only in Tel Aviv. They refuse to fly anywhere else and promise to blow up the plane,'' the pilot said.

Israeli officials said they were prepared for the worst.

''We are ready to receive the injured if there would be such. We hope it will all end peacefully,'' said Avi Zohar, head of Israel's emergency medical services.

While the plane was in Baku, officials negotiated with the hijackers and agreed to refuel the plane.

''They told us to refuel the plane and no questions. They threatened to blow up the plane,'' said Sadir Ilyasov, deputy head of Azerbaijan Airlines, who was called in to help with negotiations.

There were at least two hijackers with an automatic rifle and an explosive device on the plane, Ilyasov said, sweating and with a shaky voice. He said the negotiations were conducted in Russian, and that the hijackers did not leave the plane or allow anyone to board.

In Moscow, Alexander Zdanovich, spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service, said there were ''several terrorists armed with firearms'' on board.

Dagestan is a Muslim region adjoining Chechnya, where the Russian military is attempting to suppress an independence revolt by Islamic nationalists. Dagestan was the scene of heavy fighting last year between Russian forces and Muslim radicals.

There have been a series of plane hijackings in Russia in recent years, most of which ended with the hijackers being seized by Russian security forces.

The latest hijacking was reminiscent of a December 1988 incident in which four Soviet citizens seized a busload of schoolchildren in the same area and traded the hostages for drugs, money and safe passage to Israel.

In that case, Israel allowed the plane to land and the hijackers surrendered. They were swiftly deported back to the Soviet Union and sentenced to long prison terms.