T.H.Y. Halted Flights Temporarily

ANKARA - Turkish Airlines (THY) halted temporarily all flights upon tip-offs made by an unidentified person, sources said.
Sources told A.A correspondent that an unidentified person called THY Tuesday around 2.25 p.m., and said that THY passengers coming from Kars, eastern Turkey, and to transit from Ankara to Aegean city of Izmir, would protest NATO.
THY sources said that security forces at Ankara's Esenboga Airport started to search all planes, and noted that all passengers coming from Kars underwent a detailed check at the domestic flights terminal.
Passengers of flights from Ankara to eastern Erzurum, southern Antalya, southeastern Diyarbakir and Istanbul provinces underwent tight security check at the Esenboga airport.
Officials said that flights would be normalized within ten minutes.
Earlier in the day, a package exploded at a THY plane after it landed at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. Three cleaners who found the package were injured in the blast.
(BRC-ULG) 29.06.2004