ANKARA - Two Turks aiming to protest Pope Benedict XVI`s planned visit to Turkey next month hijacked Tuesday a Turkish Airlines (THY) plane on a Tirana-Istanbul flight that was forced to land in Italy with more than 100 people on board, company officials said.
Italy`s ANSA news agency said the airliner was intercepted by two Italian F-16s and forced to land in the eastern city of Brindisi.
Asked if the hijackers wanted to protest the pope`s planned visit next month, THY chief executiveo Candan Karlitekin told Turkey`s NTV television: "The cockpit was told that it was a protest of this nature."
The plane was en route from the Albanian capital to Istanbul with 107 passengers and six crew aboard, Karlitekin said, only five of the passengers were Turks.
"There is no threat at the moment to the passengers or crew. We believe the hijackers will surrender," he said.
The hijackers told the pilots from the start that they would surrender once the plane lands, he said.
10/03/2006 16:39 GMT