Hostage killed in foiled plane hijack in Cuba

Havana, May 4: Two Cuban army recruits tried to hijack a passenger plane to escape to the United States but were arrested after killing an unarmed military officer on board the plane, the government said.

The soldiers hijacked a bus with passengers, took it to Havana airport and seized an empty passenger plane yesterday.

They killed one of the hostages, an army lieutenant colonel, when he tried to stop the hijacking, but were then captured by security forces, the government said in a statement.

''Effective and coordinated action allowed security forces to frustrate the kidnappers' plans and save the lives of the other hostages,'' it said.

The recruits had been on the run since escaping on Sunday from an army base with two AK-47 rifles. They shot dead a soldier and wounded another in their escape.

Cuba blamed the attempted hijack on the US policy of encouraging Cubans to escape to the United States by offering them virtually automatic residency.

''The responsibility for these new murders falls on the highest US authorities, adding to a long list of terrorist acts that Cuba has been victim of for almost half a century,'' the government said.

Armed hijackings are rare in Cuba. In March 2003, two domestic passenger planes were hijacked to Key West, Florida. A month later, three men who hijacked a Havana Bay ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits were executed by firing squad.

Reuters>