Russia foils plane hijacking in Moscow

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Russian special forces staged a lightning strike on Thursday to detain a man who had seized an aircraft on a domestic flight to Moscow's Domodedovo airport, a spokeswoman for the airport said.

"During the flight, an attempt was made to hijack the airplane. After its landing at Domodedovo, it was freed thanks to well-co-ordinated actions by the interior ministry and FSB (domestic security service)," the spokeswoman told Reuters.

"This was the fastest operation to free an airplane in Russia's civil aviation history."

The plane was on its way to Moscow from Russia's North Caucasus spa town of Mineralnye Vody when it was hijacked, she the spokeswoman said. She gave no further details.

There were 105 people on board, including seven crew and five children, the prosecutor-general's investigative committee said in a statement.

"As a condition for freeing the hostages, he demanded that we connect him with the Russian prime minister (Vladimir Putin)," it added.

Quoting police sources, ITAR-TASS news agency said all the passengers had been freed safely after special forces disguised as doctors boarded the aircraft at the airport.

- Reuters