Hijacked plane 'heading to Saudi Arabia'
The Russian passenger plane hijacked after taking off from an Istanbul airport is heading to Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Two Chechens armed with knives are believed to have taken over the Russian plane carrying 162 passengers.
One of the 12 crew members on board was injured in the takeover, Turkish Transport Minister Enis Oksuz said. The plane had been on a scheduled flight from Istanbul to Moscow.
One of the pilots struggled with the hijackers, the Anatolia news agency reported, but gave no other details.
The hijacked aircraft entered Egyptian airspace at 3:45 (1345 GMT).
The plane, a TU-154 from Vnukovo Airlines, took off at 1:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT) from Istanbul's Ataturk International airport. The two hijackers took over the plane 30 minutes later.
Russia has long accused Turkey of supporting Chechen rebels and Chechens injured in fighting against Russian forces have been treated in Turkish hospitals.
Turkey and Russia recently signed an agreement to cooperate in the battle against terrorism after Turkey reportedly promised to stop all support to the Chechens.
The overwhelming majority of Turks and Chechens are Muslims and millions of Turks trace their origin to the Caucasus.
Pro-Chechen gunmen hijacked a passenger ferry off Turkey's northern Black Sea coast in 1996. The hijackers, two Chechens, six Turks and a Georgian, held more than 200 passengers hostage for four days to protest Moscow's military campaign in Chechnya.
A Turkish court later sentenced the hijackers to eight years in prison. All of the hijackers later escaped from prison amid suspicion of collusion by authorities.
