Two Libyan hijackers diverted a domestic flight to the Mediterranean island of Malta on Friday to demand asylum in Europe and create a new political party in honor of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, officials said. After hours of negotiations, the standoff ended peacefully with the hijackers freeing all 117 people on board and walking off the plane to surrender.</s>Two hijackers on a Libyan flight which was diverted to Malta have threatened to blow up the passenger jet, authorities claim.

The Afriqiyah Airways airbus A320 was on an internal flight in Libya with 118 people in board when the attack occurred.

It was forced to divert to Malta after two attackers hijacked the flight and threatened to blow up the plane.

Maltese Prime Minister said on Twitter he has been informed of potential hijack situation. – Daily Express UK.</s>It's too early to say whether the two Libyan men who hijacked a Libyan plane with 117 people on board and diverted it to Malta had any links to terror groups, Malta's police commissioner said today.

An Afriqiyah Airways plane from Libya stands on the tarmac at Malta's Luqa International airport

The hijackers did not make any demands — not when they were holding the crew and passengers of the Afriqiyah Airways nor after they surrendered themselves to Maltese authorities, police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar said.

Earlier claims coming from the plane's pilot that the two men had demanded asylum in Europe and wanted to create a new political party are being disputed by officials.

The men, who Malta state television TVM said had threatened to blow up the plane with hand grenades, were being held for arraignment while the investigation was ongoing.

No time or date has been set for their court appearance.

In addition to questioning the hijackers, police interviewed all the passengers and crew who were on the flight before they returned home to Libya on Saturday on another Afriqiyah Airways plane.

The two Libyan hijackers had diverted the domestic flight yesterday, and the standoff ended peacefully after hours of negotiations with the hijackers freeing all 117 people on board and walking off the plane to surrender.

The hijacked aircraft remains on the tarmac of Malta's international airport, guarded by Maltese troops.</s>The Latest on the apparent hijacking of a Libyan plane that landed in Malta (all times local):

Malta’s state television says two hijackers who diverted a Libyan commercial plane to the Mediterranean island nation have threatened to blow it up.

The Malta airport authority said all emergency teams had been dispatched to the site of what it called an “unlawful interference” on the airport tarmac. The plane’s engines were still running.

State television TVM said the two hijackers on board had hand grenades and had threatened to explode them.

All flights in and out of Malta have been canceled.

Airport officials said the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 flight has 118 passengers on board.

Malta airport says a Libyan plane has landed at the Mediterranean island and that there appear to be two hijackers on board.

The Malta airport authority said all emergency teams had been dispatched to the site of what it called an “unlawful interference” on the airport tarmac.

Earlier Friday, Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, said in a tweet that there was a “potential hijack situation” involving an internal Libyan flight that was diverted to Malta and that emergency operations are underway at the airport.

Airport officials said the Afriqiyah Airways A320 flight has 118 passengers on board.</s>The hijackers have left the aircraft and surrendered after releasing all the passengers and crew.

Hijackers claiming to have a grenade took over a Libyan plane Friday and diverted it to Malta before releasing everyone onboard and surrendering to authorities, officials said.

"Final crew members leaving aircraft with hijackers," Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter.

Minutes later he added: "Hijackers surrendered, searched and taken in custody".

Libyan Foreign Minister Taher Siala said the two hijackers were supporters of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi and had requested political asylum in Malta.

Siala, from Libya’s internationally backed Government of National Accord, said the hijackers have also said they want to set up a pro-Kadhafi political party.

The plane landed at 11:32 am (1032 GMT) in Malta.

After more than an hour on the tarmac, the door of the Airbus A320 opened and a first group of women and children were seen descending a mobile staircase.

Dozens more passengers were released minutes later following negotiations that Maltese government sources said were led by the head of Malta’s military.

In all there were 111 passengers, including 28 women and a baby, on board, as well as seven crew members.

Maltese government sources had earlier said only a single hijacker was believed to be on the plane.

The aircraft had been on a domestic Libyan route operated by Afriqiyah Airways from Sabha in southern Libya to the capital Tripoli but was re-routed.

"The Afriqiyah flight from Sabha to Tripoli has been diverted and has landed in Malta. Security services coordinating operations," Muscat tweeted earlier.

Muscat later spoke to Libya’s prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the north African country’s fledgling unity government, the Maltese prime minister’s office said.

The plane could be seen on the tarmac of a secondary runway surrounded by military vehicles.

All flights in and out of the airport were initially either delayed or diverted to destinations in Italy, though some later took off and landed.

Malta International Airport said there had been "an unlawful interference" but operations had now resumed.

An Afriqiyah Airways source said the two hijackers had threatened the pilots with an explosive device, probably a grenade, forcing them to continue to Malta instead of landing at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport.

Libya has been in a state of chaos since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi left warring militias battling for control of different parts of the country.

Forces loyal to a national unity government recently took control of the coastal city of Sirte, which had been a bastion for the Islamic State group since June 2015.

Western powers have pinned their hopes of containing jihadism in the energy-rich North African state on the government but it has failed to establish its authority over all of the country.

A rival authority rules the country’s far east, backed by the forces under military strongman Marshal Khalifa Haftar who have been battling jihadists in second city Benghazi.

Only local airlines — banned from European airspace — operate in Libya, with flights to Tunis, Cairo, Amman, Istanbul and Khartoum.

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• There appear to be two hijackers on board a Libyan plane which has landed at Malta airport
• The Malta airport authority said all emergency teams have been dispatched to the site
• Malta's prime minister, Joseph Muscat, said in a tweet that there was a "potential hijack situation" involving an internal Libyan flight which was diverted to Malta
• Airport officials said the Afriqiyah Airways A320 flight has 111 passengers on board

Update 12pm; Two hijackers on a diverted Libyan plane which landed in Malta have hand grenades and are threatening to blow up the aircraft, Malta state TV said.

The plane's engines are still running.

All flights in and out of Malta have been cancelled.

Earlier: A Libyan plane with 111 people on board has reportedly been hijacked.

It is reported the hijacked plane has landed in Malta.

Maltese media is reporting two hijackers are threatening to blow up a plane with 111 people on board.

The Maltese Prime Minister has tweeted to say there is a potential hijack situation at Malta airport.

The plane is said to be an Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320, which it thought to have been making its way from Sebha in south west Libya to the capital Tripoli.

More as we get it.</s>Aircraft with 118 people on board was hijacked by men claiming to have hand grenades who threatened to blow it up.

Two hijackers of a Libyan aircraft with 118 people on board surrendered to authorities on the island of Malta hours after claiming to have hand grenades and threatening to blow the plane up unless their demands were met.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter that all passengers and crew had been safely released by Friday evening.

The hijackers, Muscat said, had "surrendered" and been "searched and taken in custody".

One of the hijackers told the flight crew of the Afriqiyah Airways plane that he was "pro-Gaddafi". Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in an uprising in 2011, and the country has been racked by factional violence since.

It was unclear what the demands had been.

Hours after landing, people could be seen disembarking from the aircraft.

Tim Diacono, a journalist from Malta Today, said the hijackers had grenades and "threatened to blow the plane up".

The last major hijacking on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta was in 1985, when Palestinians took over an Egyptair plane. Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft and dozens of people were killed.

Security personnel took up positions a few hundred metres from the plane as it sat on the tarmac on Friday.

Malta-based journalist Karl Stagno-Navarra said one of the hijackers had appeared at the door of the plane waving a large green flag - similar to the old Libyan flag under Gaddafi's rule. After a few moments he put the flag down and returned inside.

"This is not an issue of international terrorism, this is an issue of internal feud that is still ongoing in Libya," Stagno-Navarra said.

The aircraft had been flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned Afriqiyah Airways, a route that would usually take about two hours.

The Afriqiyah Airways plane was diverted towards Malta, but turned back as far as Libyan airspace before changing course again and flying to the Mediterranean island, an airline official said.

Malta is about 500km north of the Libyan coast.

Prime Minister Muscat also tweeted that the passengers on board the plane included 82 men, 28 women and one infant.

The pilot of the Afriqiyah Airways plane told the control tower the aircraft had been hijacked, a senior security official at the airport said.

"The pilot reported to the control tower in Tripoli that they were being hijacked, then they lost communication with him," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The pilot tried very hard to have them land at the correct destination but they refused."

Reports said the two hijackers were in their mid-20s and were from the Tebu, an ethnic group present in southern Libya from where the plane departed.</s>Two Libyan men who hijacked a plane from Libya to Malta and threatened to blow it up have surrendered peacefully, allowing 118 passengers and crew to leave the aircraft before walking out alongside the last of the crew.

The Afriqiyah flight was travelling from Sabha to Tripoli before diverting to Malta.

The Maltese prime minister later announced the weapons used by the hijackers were in fact fake.</s>VALLETTA, Malta — Two hijackers who forced a Libyan plane to land in Malta and threatened to blow it up on Friday released everyone on board and surrendered.

Authorities did not say if the pair had made any demands, but one of them was seen waving a green flag outside the aircraft, suggesting loyalty to former Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 carrying 111 passengers was on a domestic service in Libya, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

The hijackers have been searched and taken into custody, Muscat said. All passengers and seven crew on board have been released.

The flight was scheduled to travel from Sabha to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The hijackers took control of the flight after it took off from Sabha, a desert city in southwestern Libya.

The crew reportedly wanted to land the plane in the Libyan capital, but the hijackers forced them to divert to Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

Emergency services and security personnel were on standby when the plane landed.

Contacts with the hijackers, who threatened to blow up the aircraft with hand grenades, were led by the Maltese military, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Etienne Saint John.

By the early afternoon a group of women was allowed to leave the plane. Later, the remaining passengers and crew were seen leaving, smiling and chatting as they stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac.</s>VALLETTA, Malta — Two hijackers diverted a domestic flight from Libya to the Mediterranean island of Malta on Friday and threatened to blow it up with hand grenades. After hours of negotiations, the standoff ended peacefully with the hijackers freeing all 117 passengers and crew and walking off the plane to surrender.

The hijacked Airbus A320 flight, operated by Afriqiyah Airways, was travelling from the Libyan oasis city of Sabha to Tripoli when it was diverted to Malta and landed at 11:34 a.m. local time.

Malta state television TVM said the two hijackers had hand grenades and had threatened to explode them. All flights to Malta International Airport were immediately diverted and emergency teams including negotiators were sent to the airport tarmac.

Ali Milad, the pilot, told Libya Channel TV network that initially the hijackers had asked him to head to Rome but Malta was much closer.

Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, told reporters the hijackers wanted negotiators to go on board but his government refused and insisted that all passengers and crew be released.

The hijackers then allowed the plane’s doors to open at 1:44 p.m. and a staircase was brought over to let freed passengers disembark in groups.

In a series of tweets, Muscat said 65 people were allowed to leave, then another 44 were freed, including some crew, all coming out without hand luggage. Finally the hijackers walked off the plane with the final crew members, including the pilot and co-pilot.

Muscat announced that the hijacking was over in a tweet at 3:44 p.m., saying the two Libyan hijackers surrendered without making any conditions. They were searched, taken into custody and being questioned.

The airline said that 117 people, including six crew members, had been on board the hijacked plane.

Muscat said the two hijackers had a hand grenade and a pistol on them and a second pistol was found on the plane during search by Maltese soldiers.

Milad, the pilot, identified the two hijackers as Moussa Shaha and Ahmed Ali of Libya, who other Libyan officials said were in their twenties.

The pilot said the men were seeking political asylum in Europe and wanted to set up a political party called “the New Fateh.” Fateh is a reference to former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who led the Fateh revolution after his coup in 1969.

After many hostages left the plane Friday afternoon, one of the hijackers waved the Libya’s old green flag from the plane’s doorway.

Maltese authorities were questioning the passengers and doing security checks on them in case another hijacker was among them. Passenger Ibrahim Bashir told Al-Nabaa TV that the passengers were now “trapped” inside buses at the Malta airport and not allowed to leave.

A Libyan culture official said the passengers included 25 artists, writers, and intellectuals from southern Libya who were heading to Tripoli to participate in a cultural forum.

At a news conference later Friday in the Libyan city of Tripoli, Libya’s transportation minister defended his country’s airport security.

“Security breaches happen everywhere and Libya is not an exception,” Minister Milad Matouq said. “Despite the security situation (in the country), things are excellent. This is the first incident since the (2011) revolution.”

A plane was heading to Malta to bring the passengers back to Libya after questioning, his ministry said.

But a Libyan lawmaker disputed the minister’s comments, saying he was not surprised that a plane from Sabha was hijacked because security measures were “messy” at its Tamanhent airport.

The Sabha airport was closed after tribal clashes two years ago and its air base was turned into a civilian airport for internal Libyan flights only. A small militia from the city of Misrata in northwestern Libya has been guarding it since 2014.

Salah Qalma, a lawmaker from Sabha, said while the airport has an electronic gate at its arrival hall, there are no electronic gates or guards at the adjacent exit gates.

“It’s very easy for anyone to enter without passing through the electronic gates,” he said.

Qalma also said the airport building has no fence or guards outside it and planes are not separated from the parking lot outside.

Libya, a sprawling oil-rich North African country, has been split between rival parliaments and governments, each backed by a loose array of militias and tribes, Gadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011.

Western nations view the newly-formed U.N.-brokered government as the best hope for uniting the country, but Libya’s parliament, which meets in the country’s far east, has refused to accept it. Amid chaos, the Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates have gained a foothold over the past years.

Earlier this month, militias answering to the UN-brokered government seized the Islamic State group’s last stronghold in the Libyan city of Sirte.
An Afriqiyah Airways flight originating from Sabha, Libya, is hijacked and forced to make an emergency landing in Malta. Hijackers threaten to blow up the aircraft with grenades, but the standoff ends peacefully with all hostages released and both hijackers surrendering.