A Dubai-bound plane in Bangladesh was forced to make an emergency landing in Chattogram after security officials foiled a hijacking attempt on Sunday evening, PTI reported. The state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines Flight BG-147, which was on its way to Dubai from Dhaka via Chattogram, landed at the Shah Amanat International airport in the evening.
The hijacker was killed in an exchange of fire with Army commandos, Dhaka Tribune reported. Security forces who stormed the plane evacuated all the passengers safely.
Major General SM Matiur Rahman told reporters that the commandos asked the hijacker to surrender, but he refused to do so. “The suspect was apprehended with gunshot injuries, but he died later, we have been informed,” the officer said.
“The attacker, about 25 years of age, took an attacking position,” Rahman said, according to The Daily Star. “There was no other way out [than to kill him]. Bangladesh Navy tried to negotiate with him.”
Eyewitnesses said minutes after the aircraft flew from the Chattogram airport, it returned and made a landing. The emergency exit was opened, through which the passengers disembarked. The captain and the first officer of the flight also alighted later.
The hijacker, identified as Mahadi, wanted to talk to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Rahman said. No security personnel was injured during the operation to neutralise him, Rahman added.
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