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.
Libyan Foreign Minister Taher Siala confirmed the two hijackers were supporters of the slain dictator Gaddafi and had requested political asylum in Malta.
Siala, from Libyas internationally backed Government of National Accord, said the hijackers also said they want to set up a pro-Gaddafi political party.
-Agencies
