Somalia sends troops to hijacked plane

By Mohamed Olad Hassan

Mogadishu, Somalia - Authorities in remote northern Somalia prepared troops Friday to surround an aircraft hijacked by gunmen holding three crew members hostage in a row between rival businessmen over ownership of its cargo.The chairman of Bari region, Muse Gelle Yusuf, said hijackers with pistols were holding the crew of unknown nationality in a dispute over the cargo of qat, a mildly stimulating type of leaf called chewed by most Somali men.

Yusuf said the troops were being sent to the area Friday to "surround and force the hijackers to release the plane, if ongoing negotiations for a peaceful release fail."

He did not specify the number of troops sent to the small town of Las Qorey.The plane started its flight from Ethiopia, and had been bound for the coastal town of Bossaso, about 1 500km north of the capital of Mogadishu. It landed at Las Qorey Thursday.Lawless Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre then fought each other for power.Banditry is rife, and the impoverished country is awash with weapons. -

Source: Sapa-AP