Plane hijacking ends in Spain's Canary Islands, suspect arrested

Hijacked jet lands on Spain isles
POSTED: 2:50 p.m. EST, February 15, 2007

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (Reuters) -- An Air Mauritania Boeing 737 passenger
plane hijacked on an internal flight has flown to the Spanish Canary Islands
after stopping for fuel in the Western Sahara, Mauritanian officials said.

"It has gone to the Canaries," a source close to the presidency told Reuters.
The head of the Mauritanian state news agency said the plane had already
touched down.

Earlier, a police officer at Nouakchott airport told Reuters the plane had been
hijacked on a flight to the northern port town of Nouadhibou and had flown
instead to Dakhla in Western Sahara to take on fuel.

"There was at least one armed person on board. We don't know his identity,"
the state news agency chief, Moussa Hamed, said.

-snip-

Several wounded by gunfire in Air Mauritania hijack
15 Feb 2007 20:00:29 GMT
Source: Reuters

LAS PALMAS, Spain, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Spanish emergency services said several people
had been wounded by gunfire in the hijacking of an Air Mauritania plane on Thursday.

The Boeing 737 passenger plane was hijacked on an internal flight after stopping for
fuel in the Western Sahara, Mauritanian officials said.

No further details were available.

Air Mauritania hijack ends, suspect arrested-radio
15 Feb 2007 20:22:41 GMT
Source: Reuters

LAS PALMAS, Spain, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The hijacking of an Air Mauritania plane ended
in the Spanish Canary Islands on Thursday, a Spanish government official told RNE
national radio.

A single suspect was arrested, Spanish media said. Emergency services earlier said
several people had been wounded by gunfire. No further details were immediately
available.

"Fortunately the hijacking incident has ended favourably," Jose Segura, a government
representative in the Canary Islands, told RNE. He added that 71 passengers and 8
crew were on the plane.

The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 was on an internal flight in Mauritania when the hijacker, armed with pistols, demanded to be flown to France, officials said. The pilot landed in Spain's Canary Islands instead, where Spanish police arrested the man.