Hijackers prepare for martyrdom

Press, 13 April 1988, Page 1

Hijackers prepare for martyrdom

NZPA-Reuter | i|i ’ Larnaca, Cyprus Hijackers who have killed two hostages in a Kuwaiti airliner said jresterday that they were ready to die if their demands were not met.

"We have decided to wear our death shrouds under our clothes in order that our 17 brothers will return or we shall join the ghosts in Heaven," the hijackers said in a statement to the Larnaca Airport control tower. iThe radioed statement, monitored by reporters at the Cyprus airport, followed Kuwait’s rejection of any deal to release .17 Muslim militants jailed in Kuwait for bomb attacks in 1983. The hijackers, who are demanding the release of the 17 after commandeering the Boeing 747 last Tuesday, said in their statement: | "Having heard Kuwait’s stubbornness after ia meeting of its Cabinet, we announce that we too have held a cabinet meeting in the plane to study various matters- including the insistence of the Kuwaiti regime'to be a tool in the hands of the’ American oppressor over the decks of the peace loyers and thte poor and oppressed people.” I The hijackers, who \ have warned that the jet is wireoj with explosives, said they had Jmade several decisions. I “Number one — to name: this plane the Plane of the Great Martyrs. “Two — that death with glory is better than! life in darkness. “Three — to issue a call to the Kuwaiti people to increase the revolution against this dictatorial regime and to assure that we are not against the people of Kuwait. They are our brothers in the march; ‘ ! "Four —we issue our thanks

-I -HI to the of the plane for having i stayed] ]with us and for supporting us and .for condemning the regime of their country.” The ififth and final decision was to put on shrouds. The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, told a news conference after an emergency Cabinet meeting, “Kuwait is unshakeable.” "It has suffered a. lot from terrorism and Hwill not bend to any pressure. ;of this kind,” he said, adding that terrorists “are neither: Muslims, Christians nor Jews ... they;are murderers with no right to! live.” Sheikh Sabah ! spoke after the hijackers shot! 'dead a second passenger and]] tossed his corpse with a; blood-soaked white hood over the head on to the tarmac. Referring to the peril facing the hostages,!: including three members of Kuwait’s ruling alSabah family; || the Minister said, “Though we may lose more, this (refusal to yield) is a decision not only of the Government but of the people of Kuwait.” The 11 gunmen hijacked the Kuwaiti!Airways Boeing 747 with 112 passengers and crew on April s]|on a flight to the emirate from Bangkok and flew first to Iran before landing at Cyprus last Friday evening. They: released 57 non-Kuwaiti hostages at Mashhad, in northeast Iran, leaving an estimated 44 now aboard the jet. A young Kuwaiti man -was freed at Larnaca. : j -I The !hijackers| have demanded fuel for the plane. Both killings

— the first, of a' Kuwaiti border guard, on Saturday — came after refuelling deadlines expired without action. | I "If the plane is not fuelled, the! hijackers will kill more passen-j gers, and' you w’ill have to take care of that,” a hostage warned in a shaking voice over the radio] after the second: murder. The situation deadlocked early yesterday as hijackers and hostages sweltered into an eighth day oflterror. A mobile air conditioning unit broke down, sending temperatures in the jet soaring to 35 deg. The killing of‘the second hostage, said by the, gunmen to be a Kuwaiti officer,! increased tension in the deadly drama. I One option for the authorities is to storm the plane, - but the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister said this was a decision for the Government. Warnings against such a move have come from the gunmen, ■ who said the jet was wired with explosives, and from militant! Muslim groups in Lebanon who have threatened to retaliate by I killing Western hostages they hold. The latest threat was to kill. a United States Marine officer,! William Higgins, kidnapped on February 17. The chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, visiting Kuwait, said: there were eight gunmen aboard ] the jet. A P.L.O. official, Malath Abdo, is an intermediary at Lar-| naca. | I Picture, reaction, page 10