Focus – UAE: Incident on the Flydubai plane was a terrorist act

CAIRO, 3 October /ATSH-DPA/ – The co-pilot of a Flydubai plane attacked the captain with an emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft, the United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM announced today, citing the UAE Public Prosecution.

According to the report, the UAE authorities believe Wednesday’s incident was an attempt at a terrorist attack.

The Israeli government had also earlier described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had been indoctrinated with Islamist ideology.

Investigations by the Emirati authorities into the incident on the flight to Israel are continuing, as investigators try to determine the co-pilot’s motive and whether he had links to other persons or organisations.

The plane of the UAE-based airline Flydubai was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the attack occurred, causing the aircraft to lose altitude significantly.

The pilot, an Indian national, suffered serious injuries but managed to open the cockpit door, enabling passengers and crew members to overpower the attacker and stabilise the plane.

The aircraft made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The co-pilot, who Israeli sources say is from Oman, was taken to the United Arab Emirates.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter, the Omani authorities had previously barred the co-pilot from flying over concerns that he had embraced radical ideological stances.

Saudi television Al Arabiya, citing its own sources, also reported that he had been barred from flying by the Omani authorities and is suspected of having been influenced by extremist ideas during previous stays in Syria.

/Ad.Ab./ a.jor.